Suggest Ways To Manage Anger While Under Stress

Posted on Sun, 1 Mar 2015

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 1 Mar 2015 Answered on

Mon, 23 Mar 2015 Last reviewed on

Question : hello sir, i myself am a doctor, pursuing md in pediatrics. since a was a child i had this problem of uncontrollable anger which at times manifested as rage...during stressful times like preparation for pmt, i created a havoc at home...i used to hit my parents, abuse, threw stuff...but otherwise i was civil, good at studies...i was air 29 in my pmts and came to mamc...here i am many friends but my emotions kept meddling with my friendships...only a few close friends understood and stuck by me..at the end of mbbs i entered in a relationship with my best friend from college...we were very close..but i started expecting a lot out of him...we had fights..some really bad one...violence...in one particular fight i was so uncontrollable that he accidently broke my right arm...we continued having these fights...reason being my expectations...i doubted him a lot despite the fact that he has never done anything to break my trust...he cared for me, tried to be around always...but i dont know what i wanted and why such things happened...he tried to be as tolerant as possible...we were planning to get married after our pg...but at last his patience gave way...at that time i decided to go in for relationship counselling..we came in contact with a psychologist who discussed everything in detail with me...and after a few sessions felt that i had an element of bpd...and this is affecting all my relationships...please help me

Answered by Dr. Ashish Mittal (20 hours later)

Brief Answer:
History is suggestive of BPD.

Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for your query.
I appreciate your efforts for medical consultation in so much distress.

History of uncontrollable anger, emotional issues leading to adjustment problem with friends, impulsivity and frequent fight leading to violence are indication towards BPD.

You need to take steps towards its management. It require long term and regular contact with therapist, who is trained in treating such cases with dialectical behavior therapy (DBT).

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) works towards helping people increase their emotional and cognitive regulation by learning about the triggers that lead to reactive states (like altercation with boy friend) and helping to assess which coping skills to apply in the sequence of events to help avoid undesired reactions.

BPD is also associated with mood swings. In such cases medicines like Valproic acid (Mood Stabilizer) is helpful.

I hope this information has been both informative and helpful for you. In case of any doubt, I will be available for follow ups.

Wish you good health.
Regards,

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar