That is why people say that when they get angry, they feel like they can do just about anything. However, the consequence of this feeling is that your attention narrows and focuses on the target of your anger. While this may present temporary relief, a chronic dopamine release causes the brain’s receptors to desensitize, and lowers our anger threshold, making it easier for us to get angry again. Once the surge of anger is gone, what follows is a feeling of depression – and a cycle begins. Craving a larger release of Dopamine in order to feel good again, a person will look for reasons to get angry and an anger addict is born.
When one is addicted, the addiction, and feeding it, is all we can think about. Even worse, after a while, the chemicals releases begin to alter the brain chemistry and functionality. When the neocrotex does not function properly it effects our emotions and behaviors causing us to say the wrong things and jeopardize our marriages and relationships.
For Ethan, once the drug entered his body he was trapped in a never-ending cycle of abuse and depression.
How can anger addiction be treated? We begin by explaining the process. If the amygdala handles emotions, the prefrontal cortex handles judgment. Through counseling, we can learn to exercise our left prefrontal cortex and switch off our emotions. This is done by desensitizing the amygdala so that the brain will feel more secure and allowing the left prefrontal cortex to control executive functions.
Ethan and Mali, with the help of their Rav, worked hard, together. They did not want to get divorced; they wanted to trust each other. Baruch Hashem, they got the help they needed and their marriage today is stronger than ever.