Overwhelmed by anger, he felt that the only way the person would realize how they felt was by conferring physical pain. No amount of reason or logic was useful. According to him, ?action had to be taken?. The best solution in this case was to reduce the anger by releasing it. When it was done in a few minutes, he thanked me for helping him out of the situation. The perception had changed. The thoughts were non-aggressive. Needless to say, he did not act out the rage.
When our inner drives are strong, they overwhelm our thinking. At such times reason or logic is governed by the drives. Anger is one such emotion. When it takes the form of rage, the person may lash out physically. The solution does not lie in reasoning with the person, but to help the person reduce the drive. In other situations when the anger is in the form of annoyance, reason can still be used to ?distract? the person away from the issue.
invisible braces
