The house being a mess, the traffic jam, the toothpaste without a cap, an innocent comment that falls the wrong way, all kinds of small irritations can cause you to get angry. Getting angry about little things is something that can indicate all kinds of problems. In this blog, we will explore possible causes of why you get angry about small things and whether hypnosis can then help you resolve those causes.
Stress and overload
Your work and relationships can be stressful. If stress is over a short period of time, there is often not much to it. But are you spending months or even years working or living in a stressful environment? Then this can cause you to become overloaded.
A small problem, such as the question "what are we going to have for dinner tonight?" can suddenly be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
American research shows that 1 in 4 employees in an office environment suffers from chronic anger, which can cause them to lash out over minor issues.
Now researchers indicated that for men, but not women, having posters can do a lot to reduce stress at work.
Of course, this is great fun for half the people in the office, but it does not yet offer a solution for women.
So what can you do? If a woman or man goes to a hypnotherapist with this problem and it's due to stress, it's good to know that a combination of mindfulness and hypnotherapy helps to reduce stress and prevent anger[1]. Or at least to prevent someone from actually exploding because of that emotion.
The study found that eight sessions and daily audio recording for self-hypnosis and increased mindfulness helped reduce stress.
Insomnia
Insomnia is incredibly annoying because you just can't get a decent recharge. The next day you just have to get back at it anyway, but that's pretty hard to do when you've slept badly.
Research also shows that sleep deprivation can cause you to suffer from anxiety and anger even with minor stress. What is interesting is that in situations of high stress it again does not matter whether you suffer from sleep deprivation or not how much stress you then experience[2].
So insomnia can certainly cause you to get angry over little things in particular.
Another study again shows that people can experience changes in how irritable they are after only 2 nights of poor sleep as a result, and then their personal characteristics are not what they normally are[3].
So if you have been sleeping poorly for a while and it is possible for you not to set the alarm clock, do so.
In addition, a hypnotherapist can help people with insomnia. As with getting angry about little things, insomnia can also have a variety of reasons.
People can also be helped for insomnia with hypnotherapy. Researchers indicate that results from small pilot studies are promising[4].
For example, a hypnotherapist can help anchor feelings of sleep , from periods when a person did sleep well. In this way, sleep can be more easily elicited. In addition, beliefs about sleep can be examined to see if they can be improved.
It can also cause a person to fall asleep faster, than normal[5].
Depression and anxiety
Just over half of people with depression may suffer from anger and getting angry about small things. So it is certainly not a symptom that applies to everyone with depressive symptoms, but it can be a symptom[6].
If you do have it, it is often a signal of long-term and complicated depression. Children and adolescents with depressive symptoms can be especially affected.
There is also evidence that men in particular suffer from these types of symptoms when depressed[7].
Generally, depression is treated with cognitive behavioral therapy. This can be combined with hypnosis, and research shows that this combination works most strongly against depressive symptoms[8].
Unresolved personal problems
You may have all kinds of problems that have not been solved. For example, you've been holding a particular problem in front of you for a long time that you actually need to voice. You have a long-running conflict that keeps not being resolved. Or you've experienced something traumatic that you just "put away" and don't process so it doesn't bother you anymore. This can cause irritation and getting angry about little things.
For example, research on women who get angry with their partners shows that unprocessed childhood trauma can play a role in this. This could include mistreatment, abuse, feeling that your parents or caregivers are not protecting you and seeing domestic violence.
The idea that she herself or a loved one is threatened can then be a trigger to become angry[9]. What this idea may trigger then depends on the associations the woman makes to what may lead to such a threatening situation. This can feel like getting angry about nothing, for the person doing "nothing" wrong.
With hypnotherapy, we often work with regression and a conversation with the inner child to uncover and process childhood traumas or unresolved issues.
Research also shows that hypnosis combined with proven techniques against PTSD helps process trauma better than proven techniques alone. Those techniques were then mindfulness, acceptance therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy[10].
A case study also describes how hypnotherapy helped a woman who was suffering from trauma due to childhood abuse. The hypnotherapy helped her manage her emotions, strengthen her ego and to place the abuse. The ego was strengthened primarily by transforming her negative self-schema. The memories of the abuse were processed safely with hypnosis. This helped her to suffer much less from her personal problems[11].
Medical condition
There are also a number of physical conditions that can make you angry over nothing. Consider premenstrual syndrome (PMS), thyroid disorders, neurological conditions or if you have chronic pain for some reason.
For example, research shows that women who suffer from a severe form of PMS benefit from hypnosis. This can help them suffer less from the symptoms and it helps them with their self-confidence and mental health issues due to the condition[12], which can also help them become less angry about small things.
Hypnosis is also already often used for other conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome, to relieve symptoms and mental symptoms.
This is often done with visualizations and other clever suggestions that are customized for each client.
Communication Problems
Communication is very important to keep relationships good. Being able to communicate well ensures that you can notice irritations quickly, or express them quickly, and do something about them before you get really angry about small things.
In addition, being able to communicate well helps you show or report that you have a problem with something before you get really angry. Then you don't get angry about little things, but you can just notice those little things to solve.
Hypnosis can help you figure out what is currently blocking you from communicating what needs to be said, so you don't end up angry about something, which really wasn't necessary.
Often, regression is then used to look at the first moment when a person didn't do something, which is now causing the problem. Next, the belief that caused this is examined, and then that belief is repaired so that you are no longer impeded in your communication[13].
That way, you can voice problems before you get angry at the drop in the bucket.
Learn hypnosis to help yourself and others
As you can see, you can get angry about something small for many reasons. Sometimes you just need a little more sleep, and sometimes there is much more going on. In almost all cases, hypnosis can play a role. Hypnotherapy can be the way to solve the problem, or just a supporting role in the (medical) solution to the problem.
Do you want to help yourself and/or especially others? Then knowledge of hypnosis can do a lot for you.
Join our free online master class to learn more.
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