Overcoming Destructive Anger and Diabetes

Bernard Golden, PhD. 

RELEVANCE

DIABETES

A diagnosis of chronic illness often triggers anger, as do the many challenges that face us in managing our conditions. People with diabetes are often especially prone to experiencing anger, because of fluctuating blood glucose levels that can contribute to mood swings and make them vulnerable. Anger can harm our relationships, and human connection is critical for our health and well-being. Cultivating “healthy anger” involves learning to pause and reflect on what we’re experiencing, rather than react to them. “Healthy anger” has been shown to enhance our resilience and overall well-being. And it empowers us, because it fuels assertive (rather than aggressive) communication, which improves our success at achieving our goals and satisfying our wants and needs.

TAKE AWAY

Anger is an emotion provoked when we perceive threat, and it originates in the part of the “old brain” (limbic cortex) that generates the fight-or-flight response. How each of us reacts to our anger, depends upon the habits of mind we’ve developed throughout our lives. But good news lies in the brain’s neuroplasticity; we can strengthen our prefrontal cortex, our “rational brains,” to overwrite established neural pathways and form new patterns of behavior. Drawing on neuroscience, psychology (cognitive behavior therapy) and Eastern philosophy (mindfulness, meditation, and practices in compassion and self-compassion), Dr. Bernard Golden has developed a breakthrough method to unite mind and body in the critical achievement of “healthy anger” and self-control.

TOPICS

Dr. Golden’s innovative framework for cultivating “healthy anger” includes:

• Exercises in mindfulness, visualization, and reflection without judgment to make us aware of our physical & emotional triggers and help us cultivate our compassionate selves
•  His “anger log” for charting the internal experiences that precipitate anger: our needs, desires, expectations, and negative feelings
• Practical steps for how to:

• Overcome a critical mind
• Override emotional reactivity
• Diffuse another person’s anger during a conflict
• Let go of expectations
• Let go of power
• Forgive (ourselves and others)
• Show self-compassion and empathy for others
• Communicate assertively (rather than aggress