Why We Get Angry: Interview with Professor Ryan Martin

Anger is a subject that has long fascinated me. My interest was ignited in a long-ago therapy session, as a client, when my therapist asked me: "And where is your anger?"

I was perplexed – I wasn't an angry person. I told her as much. "I'm just not really an angry person."

I left that session realising that, frankly, I felt pretty angry. I was angry at my therapist for even suggesting I was angry. When the dust had settled, I was left with new questions about myself. Where, indeed, was my anger? Why was I so defensive around my self-defined identity as 'not really an angry person'?

Deeper questions followed: what was I taught about anger as a child? What have been my experiences of being on the receiving end of anger throughout my life? How was anger modelled to me, or not? How was I responded to when I was angry in childhood, and how do I expect people to respond to me now?

I soon realised the complexity of my relationship to anger and went on to design a research project for my MSc Psychology about how anger affects women's mental health. I took up boxing and kickboxing, all the way to getting my black belt, which taught me so much about my attitudes towards aggression and being on the offensive as well as the defensive.

I love to work with clients to explore their relationship to anger, and really respect the work that Professor Ryan Martin is doing in the field of anger. You can watch my interview with him here: