During major bouts of anger or fear, people can end up taking extreme and sometimes violent actions. But they often say that, in the moment, they didn’t feel responsible for those actions – they “lost control” or “saw red”. In the UK, under certain circumstances, a person accused of murder can even claim that this “loss of control” led to them killing their victim. If successful, this defence can reduce charges to manslaughter.

For years, I was known in my friend group as “the calm one.” I took this label as a compliment because it meant I was stable. I could handle stress well. I could use a well-modulated voice and carefully chosen words in a conflict. I could articulate rather than emote. I felt these were worthy accomplishments and signs of superiority — clear indications that I wasn’t a weak, emotional creature, but a strong, stable, mature, logical person.

Seneca thought that anger is a temporary madness, and that even when justified, we should never act on the basis of it. By Massimo Pigliucci.

We consulted a psychiatrist about how to stand in your truth without totally giving up on that. By Erin Hanafy.

Anger is the emotion that has come to saturate our politics and culture. Philosophy can help us out of this dark vortex. By Martha C Nussbaum.

“If we can isolate irritability we can perhaps develop treatments that are best targeted towards people that are particularly irritable.” 2016. By Jesse Singal.