Is it healthy to get angry to get out of depression or a funk? In this video, I answer a viewer question on “state pumping” into anger.
mek672 asks – Is it healthy to state pump yourself into anger if you are stuck in depression? Or should the ideal method always be welcoming, disidentifying, then asking yourself if you can let go?
I’m not a big fan of “state pumping” or forcing yourself to feel anything. But getting angry authentically can be a very healthy thing. You can definitely use anger to help climb out of the lower emotions (apathy, grief, fear…depression). But you want to feel and access your real anger – not fake it.
You can use that anger to become proactive with tension, get stuff done, and make things happen. That can be huge for you.
If you can’t feel the anger at all and you want to bring it out of your system, you want to find a way to access your anger for real. Punching a punching bag to wake your body and emotions up, for example. Or even taking a martial arts class. Accessing your anger could be very beneficial.
But ultimately, I would still recommend a great round of releasing after you access the anger. After you’ve got access to all that anger and emotion, sit down and do some releasing.
Don’t lose control of the anger. If you become reactive to the anger, then it can do damage and decrease your confidence. But if you’re proactive with the anger, it can help pull you out of depression and build up your confidence. So I want to encourage you to stay proactive and aware and not let the anger control you.
In a “state pump,” you may lose awareness of how that really feels in your body and get all wrapped up in a dramatic, reactive version of anger in your head. So you want to really be in touch with the emotions throughout your body, and also watch them as the observer (the third person) so you don’t lose control of them.
So is it healthy to get angry? Yes, as long as you’re feeling it, not faking it, being proactive vs reactive with it, and you’re in control of it-not the the other way around.
