The following is a transcript of an interview between Patrick Wanis, Human Behavior and Relationship Expert, PhD and Dr. Michael Bauerschmidt, Medical Director of Full Potential Health Care https://www.fullpotentialhealthcare.com/ revealing how anger seriously impacts your body, aging you and causing death via strokes, coronary artery disease and heart attacks. Patrick Wanis and Dr. Mike also reveal quick and effective ways to deal with anger. For previous part of this transcript (Part 4), click here: https://patrickwanis.com/blog/anger-catabolic-it-breaks-down-your-body/
Patrick: Yes, exactly. And when you mentioned fear, fear is always the anticipation of pain which means it’s always set in the future – I’m afraid of what’s about to happen, I’m afraid of what’s going to happen, I’m afraid of what might happen.
I summarize anxiety very simply as the feeling, the sense or the belief that your world’s out of control or/and you’re trying to control something over which you have no control which then creates all the emotions that you’re referring to.
So briefly, what do you teach your patients as a way to respond to anger?
Dr. Mike: You know, take a deep breath and see what it is you’re really angry about.
You know, time after time, anger isn’t just a sudden event. There’s usually some trigger that builds and builds until you finally blow up. And it’s during that period of building that if you can develop the awareness of hey, something’s going on here that I really don’t, you know, I’ve been down this road before, I don’t like where it takes me, where’s the way off this path, and try to reengage those higher functioning levels of your mind.
The first thing you have to do is develop an awareness that something is happening over which you’re not exerting appropriate control.
Patrick: The reason I asked you the question, “How do you teach your patients to respond to anger?” is to accept that there will be anger. Anger is a natural response. It’s about how long we stay angry, how much anger we have, and how we often we get angry. But we will be angry because it is a natural response.
So then, we have to decide “How angry am I going to get, how am I going to respond to the anger, and for how long will I stay angry?” And I keep coming back to the simple suggestion, such as deep breathing, in the moment, asking yourself “How significant is this, how important is this in the big scheme of things?” And you specifically used the example if I arrive late, what’s the worse that can happen versus if I keep driving fast, I could hurt myself, I could hurt someone else.
Yoga and meditation are also great solutions to stress or to anger because as you talked about awareness, the more emotionally aware you are, the easier it is to become aware that oh, I’m about to get very angry or I’m becoming overly angry or my anger is about to get out of control.
Is there anything else that you’d suggest?
Dr. Mike: There’s a wonderful thing that I use in the office. It’s called neurofeedback. What it is, is technology that was developed through UCLA by NASA and the military to help train astronauts and special forces folks. And what it does is it basically maps your brain and finds areas that are running a little too hot. It looks at your four brain waves and looks at how they’re responding in different nodes in the brain and are they balanced. And based on comparing the brain map — your personal brain map along with some testing — personality inventory and self‑assessments — compare that to people of your age and sex and come up with things like well, this is a supplement regimen and this is a program of 20 treatments that are used using photic stimulation as well as visual and auditory feedback to rebalance the brain.
So this is particularly useful for people with chronic anger states, anxiety, depression, ADD, you know, there’s all kinds of things that can really help rebalance the neurotransmitters. Because, again, if you have chronic anger, chronic anger issues, chronic anxiety issues, your neurotransmitters are going to go out of balance and we need to get them rebalanced. And so, this is kind of like neuro — this like biofeedback on steroids.
Patrick: So in terms of a lifestyle suggestion, would it be safe to suggest to people to start doing things that you really enjoy again, to start having fun, to start focusing on being out in nature, listening to music or simply doing the things that you really enjoy?
Dr. Mike: Oh, yeah. And that’s why I have — you know, anybody that comes into my office is going to fill out — I call it the balance wheel. And they just assess their level of satisfaction in eight different areas of their life. And I tell them, you know, the more out of balance you are — and it’s amazing, I’ve had only — out of over 1,500 balance wheels I’ve looked at in the last couple of years, there have been four that I would say you’re right, your life is good.
So everybody has some imbalances. And if you can begin to address those, it does have a big difference on how you respond in situations and how you just enjoy life. And the more enjoyment you have, the more your dopamine comes online, the more your oxytocin comes online, the more your serotonin levels go up and the less likely you are to respond in bad, maladaptive ways to those periods when we inevitably will feel angry.
Patrick: Dr. Mike, the beauty of your work and the magic of what you do is that you do truly look at the patient holistically — mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually — and so that you’re actually looking at the person’s entire lifestyle — what they’re eating, how they’re sleeping, what their thoughts are, what their emotions are, what their connection is to other people, what their spirituality is — and then putting it all together to give someone a new approach to life.
Anger causes anxiety and fear. You can feel good about yourself using this hypnosis audio now. Click on the image and become more confident.
And I just want to take a moment to say that that is really rare and it’s great work that you’re doing and obviously that’s why your patients and clients are having extraordinary success.
Thank you so much for sharing with us suggestions of how to deal with anger. And if people want to get in touch with you, they can get in touch with you through https://www.fullpotentialhealthcare.com/
Dr. Mike: That’s perfect. And there’s a spot there for information or — and there’s also a spot for patients already registered that they can send emails directly and ask any questions they may have.
Patrick: Right, excellent Dr. Mike Bauerschmidt, thank you very much.
Dr. Mike: Thank you, Patrick. It’s been a pleasure, as always.
Patrick: Dr. Mike Bauerschmidt, who’s a doctor in functional medicine and also director of fullpotentialhealthcare.com.
Also read “Running from Anger” by Human Behavior Expert Patrick Wanis, PhD to learn more about the dangers of running from anger and to gain more solutions to setting yourself free from anger: https://patrickwanis.com/blog/running-from-anger
For the other parts of this interview:
Part 1. Anger shortens your life and can kill you – oxidative stress https://patrickwanis.com/blog/anger-shortens-life-kill-you-oxidative-stress/
Part 2. Anger produces adrenaline – a poison
https://patrickwanis.com/blog/anger-produces-adrenaline-poison/
Part 3. Solutions & help for dealing with anger
https://patrickwanis.com/blog/solutions-help-dealing-with-anger/
Part 4. Anger is Catabolic – it breaks down your body
https://patrickwanis.com/blog/anger-catabolic-it-breaks-down-your-body/
Anointed “The Woman Expert” by WGN Chicago, Patrick Wanis PhD is a renowned Celebrity Life Coach, Human Behavior & Relationship Expert who developed SRTT therapy (Subconscious Rapid Transformation Technique) and is teaching it to other practitioners. Wanis’ clientele ranges from celebrities and CEOs to housewives and teenagers. CNN, BBC, FOX News, MSNBC & major news outlets worldwide consult Wanis for his expert insights and analysis on sexuality, human behavior and women’s issues. Wanis is the first person ever to do hypnotherapy on national TV – on the Montel Williams show.