What’s Your Anger Style?

Sixteen ways to manage your frustration, whether you have a quick temper or a biting sense of humor.

By Jenna McCarthy
Article from http://www.realsimple.com/health/mind-mood/

Anger Style: Explosive

What it looks like: "If you leave your jacket on the floor one more time, I'm leaving you!" It may take a lot to push you over the edge, but when you get there, the earth shakes and people run for cover.

Why you might do it: If you were never taught how to deal with irritation, you may habitually swallow it until you can swallow no more. Eventually your top will blow. Some people are anger junkies, who get off on the adrenaline rush of an emotional explosion, not to mention the fact that the onslaught can mean they get their way―at least in the short term.

The damage: It is virtually impossible to feel empathy and anger simultaneously, so in the heat of the moment, you are more likely to say and do overly harsh things that you later regret.

How to Turn It Around 

Wait it out. "Research has shown that the neurological anger response lasts less than two seconds," says Ronald Potter-Efron, Ph.D., an anger-management specialist in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and a coauthor of Letting Go of Anger. Beyond that, it takes a commitment to stay angry. Mentally recite the Pledge of Allegiance or count to 10 and see if the urge to explode has diminished.

Own your emotions. A simple rephrasing of your feelings can help you feel more in control. "I'm really upset by your behavior" is much more effective and empowering than %#*&@!.

Anger Style: Self-Abuse

What it looks like: "It's my fault he doesn't help me. I'm a terrible wife." You find a way to make everything your fault, every single time.

Why you might do it: Somewhere along the line, your self-esteem took a beating and you decided that sometimes it's just safer and easier to be mad at yourself than at someone else.

The damage: Constantly turning angry feelings inward can set you up for continued disappointments and even depression.

How to Turn It Around 

Question yourself. Every time you feel the urge to assume blame, start by asking yourself, "Who told me I was responsible for this?" Then ask, "Do I really believe that?" Instead of accepting all responsibility, thank yourself for recognizing the pattern in the first place.

Work on your self-worth. Make a list of your positive qualities. Developing a genuine sense of worthiness is a critical step in overcoming self-blame. Seek out a professional if you need more help in working around this issue.

Anger Style: Avoidance

What it looks like: "I'm fine. It's fine. Everything's fine." Even when there's a fireball of rage burning in your gut, you paste on a happy face and dodge any display of irritation. This isn't passive aggression; it's buried aggression.

Why you might do it: "Women in particular are told over and over again to be nice no matter what. Get angry and you could lose your reputation, marriage, friends, or job," says Potter-Efron. If you grew up in a volatile or abusive home, you may not believe anger can be controlled or expressed calmly.

The damage: The primary function of anger is to signal that something is amiss and encourage resolution. By ignoring that warning sign, you may end up engaging in self-destructive behaviors (overeating, excessive shopping). You're also basically giving the green light to other people's bad behavior or denying them the opportunity to make amends. How can they apologize if they don't know you've been hurt?

How to Turn It Around 

Challenge your core beliefs. Ask yourself, "Is it really fine for my employees to leave early whenever they want? For my partner to go golfing every weekend?" If you're honest, the resounding answer to these questions is probably "You know what? It's not fine." Recognizing that something is wrong is the first step to setting it right. 

Step outside yourself. Imagine that a friend is the one being abused, overworked, or neglected. What would be the appropriate way for her to respond? Make a list of actions she might take, then ask yourself why it is OK for her, but not you, to react that way. 

Embrace healthy confrontation. Someone ticked you off? Tell the person―in a positive, constructive way. Yes, he or she might be surprised, possibly even (gasp!) angered, by your words. And you know what? He or she will get over it. "Avoidance often does more damage to families and friendships than any expression of anger," says Potter-Efron.

Anger Style: Sarcasm

What it looks like: "It's OK that you're late. I had time to read the menu―40 times." You find a roundabout way of getting your digs in, with a half smile. 

Why you might do it: You were probably raised to believe that expressing negative emotions directly isn't OK, so you take a more indirect route. If folks get mad, it's their fault, not yours. After all, you were just kidding. Can't people take a joke? 

The damage: Even though couched in wit, your cutting comments can damage your relationships. Although some people insist that mockery is a form of intellectual humor, the very word sarcasm is related to the Greek word sarkazein, meaning "to tear flesh like dogs." Ouch. 

How to Turn It Around 

Give it to them straight. "Sarcasm is passive-aggressive communication," explains Todd. Find words to express how you feel head-on. You might explain to a tardy friend, say, after you're seated, "I wish you would try to be on time, especially when you know we have limited time."

Be firm and clear. This is especially true with children, to whom a gentle "Jumping on the furniture is not acceptable" sends a much clearer message than the snarky "Don't worry―we just happen to have $2,000 set aside for a new sofa."

Speak up before you get bitter. Exercising assertiveness prior to arriving at your breaking point can help prevent a sarcastic streak from popping out.

Anger Style: Passive-Aggressive

What it looks like: "Oops. Did I delete all those old baseball games from the TiVo?" You don't hide or swallow your anger, but you express it in an underhanded way.

Why you might do it: You dislike confrontation, but you're no pushover, either. "People become 'anger sneaks' when they believe they can't stand up to others," says Potter-Efron. Some people who are cautious by nature turn to this style when they feel pushed outside their comfort zones.

The damage: You frustrate people. Todd puts it another way: "You're living your life around making sure other people don't get what they want, instead of striving for what would make you happy." The bottom line: No one wins.

How to Turn It Around 

Give yourself permission to get angry. Tell yourself that anger is your psyche's way of saying you're tired of being pushed around. A mantra: Assertiveness is fine; aggression (passive or otherwise) is not.

Advocate for yourself. Instead of "forgetting" to turn in your report at work or showing up late to meetings, gather your courage and tell your boss that your workload has gotten too heavy or that you're having an issue with a coworker. It won't be easy, but neither is looking for another job.

Take control. If you turn to passive aggression when you're uncomfortable with what's expected of you, it's important to do something to take the reins of your situation. Unable to manage the house or the finances solo? Rather than doing a haphazard job of it (subconsciously, of course), tell your partner how important it is that he contributes.

Anger Style: Habitual Irritation

What it looks like: "I am sick and tired of you borrowing my stapler! Get your own!" This is often less a reaction to events and more a default option. It's always on unless you consciously turn it off.

Why you might do it: If your discontent dwells directly below the surface and is constantly seeping through, there's probably resentment, regret, or frustration boiling beneath. Maybe your coworker got the promotion and you didn't. Or your marriage is falling apart and you're not sure why.

The damage: If you're always ready to blow, friends, family, and coworkers may take great pains to avoid upsetting you. Or they may avoid you altogether. The most likely result? No progress―you stay stuck in the same vicious cycle.

How to Turn It Around 

Get to the heart of it. What are you really mad about? If you dig deep, you'll realize it probably isn't about a stapler―or dirty socks on the floor, or an empty milk carton in the refrigerator, or any of the other small things that make you so frustrated. Consider professional intervention if you can't get to the bottom of it on your own.

Tune in to anger clues. Become aware of the actions and feelings associated with your irritation. When you're enraged, do you ball your hands into fists? Pace around the room? Grumble, swear, or grit your teeth? As you identify and experience each physiological response, make a mindful effort to do something―anything―else.

Visualize peace. Try this technique to stop rising anger before it overtakes you. Imagine your breath as a wave, a surge of color, or even a breeze. Watch it come in and out; optimally each breath will be deep and quiet. Hear yourself speaking calmly and softly to yourself and to others. Your anger reflex should diminish another degree each time you do this imaging.

Jenna McCarthy
Article from http://www.realsimple.com/health/mind-mood/



Turn the hopelessness within you into a fruitful opportunity. By RIDO

Don't Manage Your Anger at Work, Channel It

Article from http://mashable.com/2014/04/30/anger-management-workplace/
Erin Greenawald for The Daily Muse


The Muse offers career advice for the digital world, including exciting job opportunities, expert advice, and a peek behind the scenes into fantastic companies & career paths.

When you think about the right way to handle getting riled up at work, you probably think of anger management. After all, the best way to remain professional is to stay cool, calm, and collected — right?

Turns out, though, anger in the office might help you out more than you think (if you know how to channel it right). A recent article by Jeff Haden of Inc. reports that some of the world’s most successful leaders — think the Steve Jobs’ and Jeff Bezos’ of the world — regularly express all manner of emotions, including anger. The difference between them and your co-worker who throws an adult tempter tantrum every time things don’t go his or her way? They know how to stay in control of their anger and harness it for its benefits (extra focus and a boost of adrenaline-driven confidence) rather than make a fool of themselves.

So what does this look like in action? Inc. suggests two great ways to keep your anger in check and productive. First, try handling these emotions as they come, rather than letting them bottle up until you explode with embarrassing rage:

    When you feel irritated, don’t swallow those feelings. Think about how you feel. Think about why you feel the way you feel. Then work with how you feel. Say what you need to say, letting a little of your irritation show through. You won’t have to worry about losing your cool because, after all, you aren’t angry — you’re just irritated.

Second, try channeling your anger towards an action, rather than a person. If an employee makes a mistake, yelling at him is counterproductive (and makes you look like a terrible boss). By focusing on the situation that you’re angry about, rather than the person, you can use your anger in a more productive way:

    Saying, "You do a great job, but I’m really struggling to understand why you did that. Can we talk about it?" Directing your frustration at the action and not the employee helps reduce his or her feelings of defensiveness while still allowing you to express your frustration — which will help you both focus on solving the problem.

So, next time you’re feeling a little miffed at the office, don’t swallow that feeling. Make sure it’s not controlling you, yes, but use it in a controlled way to help you achieve your goals.


Article from http://mashable.com/2014/04/30/anger-management-workplace/
Erin Greenawald for The Daily Muse

Turn the hopelessness within you into a fruitful opportunity. By RIDO

Advances in anger management

Researchers and practitioners are examining what works best for managing problem anger.

By JENNIFER DAW HOLLOWAY
Monitor Staff
March 2003, Vol 34, No. 3
From http://www.apa.org/monitor

Rob comes to therapy at the urging of his wife. He's prone to angry outbursts--especially while driving. He says things such as, 'I'm not doing anything unsafe, it's that jerk in front of us who's going too slow, who made me slam on my brakes.' He admits he spends a good portion of his day angry at one thing or another.

Most practicing psychologists have seen plenty of angry patients like Rob in therapy. While most recognize problematic anger in their patients, they may or may not be clear on how to treat it.

Psychologist Howard Kassinove, PhD, of Hofstra University, says the number of patients he saw clinically for problem anger just didn't correspond with the relative lack of attention to it in the academic literature. "Anger has been an understudied emotion," he says. "I was in clinical practice for more than 25 years. An enormous number of people come in with anger problems, but the literature base is small, there are no anger diagnostic categories and psychology textbooks rarely mention anger."

Diagnosing problem anger

Most normal people experience anger a few times a week, says Kassinove. According to a 1997 study by him and his colleagues, 58 percent of anger episodes include yelling or screaming. And less than 10 percent involve physical aggression. Even then, the aggression is usually mild and consists of throwing small objects, such as pencils, or shoving. Anger can even be positive (see page 44). But what characteristics define problematic or dysfunctional anger versus normal anger?

A study published last year by Kassinove, R. Chip Tafrate, PhD, and L. Dundin in the Journal of Clinical Psychology (Vol. 58, No. 12) found that people with high trait anger have anger reactions that are more frequent, intense and enduring. They also tend to report more physical aggression, negative verbal responses, drug use and negative consequences of their anger. In general, their anger negatively affects their relationships, their health and their jobs.

Such anger that "disrupts or interferes with sense of self or normal routines" could warrant therapy, says Colorado State University psychologist Jerry Deffenbacher, PhD.

Anger experts note, however, that unlike most clinical problems, there is no diagnostic category for anger. "The DSM doesn't have any diagnostic categories where anger is the presenting issue," says Deffenbacher. "We don't have any parallel diagnoses." So, he adds, the degree to which anger becomes a real problem is "a fuzzy call."

Some psychologists--among them Raymond DiGiuseppe, PhD--are working to fill this diagnostic need. DiGiuseppe, chair of the psychology department at St. John's University in New York, is conducting research to validate a set of criteria for an anger diagnosis. But that still leaves open the question of tailoring the treatment to the diagnosis. "Given all the different distinctions we have about anxiety disorders, they help us develop more treatments," says DiGiuseppe. "We have no such distinction for anger. Everyone gets the same treatment."

Though some experts believe an anger-related diagnostic category could be helpful, others argue against it. Some say it isn't necessary because anger may be a symptom of another disorder. Others argue that a distinct anger diagnosis could be used wrongfully in court, for example, to explain--and perhaps create a defense for--criminally violent behavior.

Techniques to reduce anger

Diagnostic categories or no, psychologists are still faced with treating anger in the therapy room. Yet how are they to do that?

"I think there are three strategies or combinations of them that have the most empirical research behind them," says Deffenbacher. The strategies--relaxation, cognitive therapy and skill development--are new applications of existing concepts, he says.

Since the 1980s, he and his colleagues have been studying whether cognitive and relaxation techniques affect anger. Angry college students and drivers in his studies reduced their anger levels from the 85th percentile to normal levels on Spielberger's Trait Anger Scale, using relaxation. "You can't be calm and relaxed and pissed off as hell at the same time," Deffenbacher jokes.

Here's how the relaxation technique works: Clinicians train patients in progressive relaxation until they can quickly use personal cues, such as words, phrases or images--one woman learned to visualize a cross--to relax in an anger-inducing situation.

"We have people identify what makes them very angry. With drivers, for example, when people flip them off or go too slow," says Deffenbacher. "Then we have them visualize that intensely for a minute or two and then help them relax...so they get angry and then relax it away. We do that over and over again." By the end of approximately eight sessions, the patients should learn to relax themselves, without therapist assistance.

"The analogy I like to use is it's like weight loss," he says. "They come in and get [rid of] a lot of anger. I don't want to see them angry again, so we shift the focus to maintenance and prevention eventually."

Cognitive therapy--in which psychologists help patients see alternative ways of thinking and reacting to anger--is another helpful treatment strategy, says Deffenbacher.

"A lot of ways in which we think when we're angry make situations worse," he explains. "Suppose you're driving to work and you get cut off. You think, 'You idiot,' about the other driver. But you could think 'Whoa, that was an accident waiting to happen.'" He also recommends focusing on compatible and appropriate behaviors with patients. "If I'm an abusive parent, I may need parenting skills. If I'm an angry driver, I need safe driving skills," he says. Any of the three techniques, or any combination of them, takes "practice, practice, practice," says Deffenbacher.

The combination of techniques also seems to produce the most positive effect. For example, several of Deffenbacher's studies with angry college students, including one in 1996 in Cognitive Therapy and Research (Vol. 20, No. 6), using a cognitive-relaxation intervention showed that anger was lowered for most participants--with effect sizes of 1.0 generally, which is statistically significant.

Kassinove and Tafrate, co-authors of "Anger Management: The Complete Treatment Guidebook for Practitioners" (Impact, 2002), envision similar combinations of interventions in a model that incorporates four stages of change:

Preparing for change. Deffenbacher agrees this stage is often overlooked but is key to success. Kassinove says clinicians need to start by helping patients increase their motivation and awareness of their anger.

Changing. This stage includes assertiveness training, avoiding and escaping from anger-invoking situations, and a "barb exposure technique" that triggers patients' anger and then teaches them to relax.

Accepting and adjusting. At this point, patients are taught how to reconceptualize their anger triggers, forgive others and avoid carrying a grudge against those who might anger them.

Maintaining change. It's best to conclude treatment with a long-term plan. New triggers might re-ignite anger, so we try to include relapse prevention training, Kassinove advises.

The future of anger reduction

As researchers continue their search for effective treatments, emerging evidence suggests that some treatment types work better than others with problem anger. For example, most research now says that catharsis--"letting it all out"--isn't helpful and, in fact, may increase a person's hostility, according to a 1999 study by psychologist Brad Bushman, PhD, and colleagues, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Vol. 76, No. 3).

And DiGiuseppe says that his own meta-analytic review has found group therapy to be less effective than individual therapy. "Group members tend to reinforce each other with their anger and antisocial attitudes of expressing it," he explains.

There are many other areas worthy of exploration, say DiGiuseppe and Deffenbacher, such as the use of motivational interviewing, readiness to change and the role of revenge in problem anger.

And though there is a growing body of literature on anger reduction, researchers need to step up their attention to anger treatment and diagnosis, according to Kassinove and Tafrate. The development of diagnostic criteria for anger won't happen until the experience of anger is better understood, they say.

JENNIFER DAW HOLLOWAY
Monitor Staff
March 2003, Vol 34, No. 3
From http://www.apa.org/monitor/


Turn the hopelessness within you into a fruitful opportunity. By RIDO

How to Defuse Anger in Ourselves & Others

By MARGARITA TARTAKOVSKY, M.S. 
Associate Editor
Article from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/

“Anger can destroy marriages, business partnerships and countries,” said Joe Shrand, M.D., an instructor at Harvard Medical School and co-author of the valuable, practical and science-based book Outsmarting Anger: 7 Strategies for Defusing Our Most Dangerous Emotion with Leigh Devine, MS.

Fortunately, each of us holds the power to defuse our own anger and even others,’ Dr. Shrand said. This is especially critical because often it’s not our own fuse that hinders our success; it’s someone else’s, he said.

The key in cooling anger lies in respect. As Dr. Shrand said, when was the last time you got angry with someone who showed you respect?

“Anger is designed to change the behavior of someone else. Being respected feels great, so why would we want to change that?”

Another key lies in using our prefrontal cortex, instead of letting our primitive limbic system run amok. Our limbic system is the ancient part of the brain known as the “lizard brain,” according to Shrand, also medical director of CASTLE (Clean and Sober Teens Living Empowered) at the High Point Treatment Center in New Bedford, Mass. It houses our emotions, impulses and memory. And it’s the source of our fight-or-flight response.

The prefrontal cortex is the more advanced, newer part of our brains known as the “executive center.” It helps us plan, solve problems, make decisions and control our impulses. It’s the prefrontal cortex that helps us in deactivating anger in ourselves and others.

Recognizing & Defusing Your Own Rage

Anger is a perfectly normal part of being human, Shrand said. It becomes dangerous when we’re unable to recognize it, or it transforms into aggression. So it’s important to first understand and defuse your own anger.

Angry runs on a spectrum, from irritation to rage. Shrand suggested creating your own anger scale from 1 to 10. For instance, his 10-point scale looks like this: “irritation, aggravation, annoyance, frustration, impatience, displeasure, anger, wrath, fury and rage.” Figure out your triggers for all 10 levels.

Pay attention when your anger surpasses level 5. That’s when our limbic system overwhelms the prefrontal cortex, Shrand writes in Outsmarting Anger. And that’s when we’re more likely to get into verbal or even physical fights.

According to Shrand, there are three major reasons, or domains, why we get angry: resources, such as food and money; residence, which includes not just your home, but your community, work, school and country; and relationships, which include your close family, coworkers, political party and religion.

Specifically, the suspicion that someone wants to take something away from us – resource, residence or relationship – can activate our anger. Another trigger is envy, when someone has something we want in any of the three domains.

To better understand your own anger, Strand suggested considering the various triggers in each of these domains.

Once you recognize the presence of your anger, it’s vital to channel it, he said. “Anger doesn’t have to be destructive but [can be] constructive.” Shrand advised against punching things because you can “go from a pillow to a face.” Instead, “defuse the energy of anger.”

Go for a run, focus on your artwork or finish a DIY project, he said. “Break something that needs to be broken.” As he said, the most amazing works, including music, poetry and art, have been created from anger.

Defusing Other People’s Anger

According to Shrand, you can deactivate another person’s anger by not getting angry yourself. In fact, doing so can connect you to others in profound ways. Take the following example. A stranger was putting up a yard sale sign on Shrand’s lawn. He was pretty annoyed, but, as he approached the man, decided to calmly ask him what he was doing. The man responded defensively.

But Shrand responded with a joke, which eased the tension. This led to a meaningful conversation. Shrand learned that this man – his neighbor – was having a yard sale to finally sell his wife’s belongings, three years after her passing. “His eyes welled with tears as he spoke, this man who just a few moments before had been a burly stranger engaged in a meaningless defensive posture,” he writes in his book.

Shrand’s calm and amicable demeanor sent the message to his neighbor’s brain that Shrand wasn’t a threat. He wasn’t going to steal the man’s resources, residence or relationship.

Another important component of deactivating another’s anger is empathy. For instance, in the above example, Shrand showed his neighbor that he was interested in him and wanted to better understand his thoughts and behavior, which sent another message: “You have value to me.”

And that’s a powerful thing. As Shrand said, “In our heart of hearts, a human being wants to feel valued by another human being.” “Feeling valued leads to trust. In turn, the feeling of trust reduces the other person’s anxiety and potential for anger,” he writes in Outsmarting Anger.

Shrand encouraged readers to “Keep it frontal, don’t go limbic.” In other words, focus on your prefrontal cortex, without getting suspicious of others or lashing out.

You might worry that this leaves you vulnerable to being exploited. But “you’re enhancing your survival potential. You become seen as a benefactor yourself… or a person of integrity and character that others want to be around [and trust].”

Cooperation trumps competition. Group dynamics research has found that while selfish members do better temporarily, altruists win, because they are working cooperatively, he said.

You also never know where people are coming from or the day they’ve had. While we don’t have control over anyone, we do influence everyone, he said. “We have to decide what kind of influence we want to be.”

MARGARITA TARTAKOVSKY, M.S. 
Associate Editor
Article from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/




Turn the hopelessness within you into a fruitful opportunity. By RIDO

Anger may raise heart attack risk, study finds

By Trevor Stokes
Reuters
Article from http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/

Bottling up emotions is thought to harm both mind and body, but a new study suggests that the opposite extreme may be no better.

In a study of thousands of heart attack patients, those who recalled having flown into a rage during the previous year were more than twice as likely to have had their heart attack within two hours of that episode, compared to other times during the year.

"There is transiently higher risk of having a heart attack following an outburst of anger," said study author Elizabeth Mostofsky, postdoctoral fellow with the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Unit at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

The greater the fury - including throwing objects and threatening others - the higher the risk, Mostofsky's team reports in The American Journal of Cardiology. The most intense outbursts were linked to a more than four-fold higher risk while milder bouts of anger were tied to less than twice the risk.

"The association is consistently stronger with increasing anger intensity; it's not just that any anger is going to increase your risk," Mostofsky told Reuters Health

The data came from a group of 3,886 patients who were part of a study between 1989 and 1996 to determine what brought on their heart attacks.

Within four days of having a myocardial infarction - the classic "heart attack" - participants were asked about a range of events in the preceding year, as well as about their diets, lifestyles, exercise habits and medication use.

A total of 1,484 participants reported having outbursts of anger in the previous year, 110 of whom had those episodes within two hours of the onset of their heart attacks.

Participants recalled their anger on a seven-point scale that ranged from irritation to a rage that caused people to lose control.

The researchers found that with each increment of anger intensity, the risk of heart attack in the next two hours rose. That risk was 1.7 times greater after feeling "moderately angry, so hassled it shows in your voice;" and 2.3 times greater after feeling "very tense, body tense, clenching fists or teeth" and 4.5 times greater after feeling "enraged! lost control, throwing objects, hurting yourself or others."

The most frequent causes of anger outbursts that participants recalled were family issues, conflicts at work and commuting.

Although the research cannot prove that the angry outbursts led to the heart attacks, the results "make sense," according to Dr. James O'Keefe Jr, a cardiologist at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City who wasn't involved in the research.

Anger is an emotion that releases the fight-or-flight-response chemicals epinephrine and norepinephrine, he said.

Those hormones raise our blood pressure, our pulse, constrict blood vessels, make blood platelets stickier (increasing the risk of blood clots), which O'Keefe says could be one way anger may be associated with increased heart risk.

"Contrary to the urban myth that it's best to express anger and get it out there, expressing anger takes a toll on your system and there's nothing really cathartic about it," O'Keefe told Reuters Health.

"(Anger) serves no purpose other than to corrode the short and long-term health of your heart and blood vessels," he said.

In the study, patients on blood pressure medications known as beta blockers had a reduced chance of having a heart attack following an angry outburst, Mostofsky's team notes in their report.

The authors say that finding suggests doctors might consider using those drugs preventively in people at risk of heart attack and prone to anger.

In discussing other possibilities for protecting people at risk, the researchers also write that during the 1990s when the data were collected, not enough study participants were on the newer statin drugs to determine their potential effects on heart attack risk.

Similarly, the number of participants who were on antidepressants was too low to tell whether they would have made a difference. would have made a difference.

Regular exercise, Mostofsky and her colleagues write, has been shown to lower overall heart attack risk. Though they found no differences in the link between angry outbursts and short-term heart attack risk among regular exercisers in the study, they conclude that maintaining an active lifestyle couldn't hurt.

The study is part of a broader field of research looking at managing the effects of emotional states on cardiovascular systems, said Donald Edmondson, assistant professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, who studies heart attack survivors but was not involved in the new work.

"People prone to angry outbursts or more broadly, who are prone to anxiety, depression or other intense emotions should be aware that this is something that impacts their cardiovascular system," Edmondson told Reuters Health.

Trevor Stokes
Reuters
Article from http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/

Turn the hopelessness within you into a fruitful opportunity. By RIDO

7 Mistaken Assumptions Angry People Make

By Marie Hartwell-Walker, Ed.D.
Article from http://psychcentral.com/

“I guess I have an anger problem. I lose my temper pretty quick. But it’s not like my wife doesn’t do things to make me mad.”

Richard has reluctantly come to treatment because his wife took out a restraining order after their last fight. He admits he lost control. He acknowledges that maybe he said things he shouldn’t have. But he also thinks she shouldn’t have done or said what she did. “I can’t help getting mad when she jerks my chain. I can’t let her get away with that!” he says.

What Richard doesn’t yet understand is this: Temper isn’t something you lose. It’s something you decide to throw away.

Raging, shouting, name-calling, throwing things and threatening harm is all a big bluff. It’s the human equivalent of animal behavior. From the puffer fish that puffs itself up to twice its size to look more intimidating to the lion on the veldt who shakes his mane and roars, creatures who feel threatened posture and threaten in order to protect themselves and their turf. The display often is enough to get the predator or interloper to back off. If not, the fight — or flight — is on.

People who rage are the same. Feeling a threat, they posture. They throw away all mature controls and rant and rage like an out-of-control 2-year-old. It’s impressive. It’s scary. It gets folks around them to walk around on eggshells. Others often let them “win” just to get away.

But are they happy? Usually not. When I talk to the Richards of the world, they usually just want things to go right. They want respect. They want their kids and their partners to give them the authority they think they deserve. Sadly, their tactics backfire. Not knowing what might set him off, kids, partners, coworkers and friends distance and leave him more and more alone.

Helping someone like Richard with “anger management” requires more than helping him learn how to express his angry feelings appropriately. Giving him practical skills alone assumes more control than he can probably hold on to. To be able to integrate those skills into his self-image, he needs to reconsider some of his basic assumptions about life and his place in it.

7 Mistaken Assumptions Angry People Often Make

1.     They can’t help it. Angry people have lots of excuses. Women will blame their PMS. Both sexes will blame their stress, their exhaustion, or their worries. Never mind that other people who have PMS or who are stressed, tired, or worried don’t pop off at the world. Angry people don’t yet understand that they are actually giving themselves permission to rant. In that sense, they are very much in control.
2.     The only way to express anger is to explode. People who rage believe that anger is like the buildup of steam in an overheated steam engine. They think they need to blow off the steam in order to be OK. In fact, raging tends only to produce more of the same.
3.     Frustration is intolerable. Angry people can’t sit with frustration, anxiety or fear. To them, such feelings are a signal that they are being challenged. When life doesn’t go their way, when someone doesn’t see things as they do, when their best-laid plans get interrupted or they make a mistake, they simply can’t tolerate it. To them, it’s better to blow than to be left with those feelings. They don’t get it that frustration is a normal part of everyone’s life and that it is often the source of creativity and inspiration.
4.     It’s more important to win than to be right. Chronically angry people often have the idea that their status is at stake when there is conflict. When questioned, they take it overly personally. If they are losing an argument, they experience a loss of self-esteem. At that moment, they need to assert their authority, even if they are wrong. When it is certain that they are wrong, they will find a way to prove that the other person is more wrong. For mature people, self-esteem is grounded in being able to put ego aside in order to find the best solution.
5.     “Respect” means that people do things their way. When another driver tailgates, when a partner refuses to go along with a plan, when a kid doesn’t jump when told to do something, they feel disrespected. To them, disrespect is intolerable. Making a lot of noise and threatening is their way of reasserting their right to “respect” by others. Sadly, when the basis of “respect” is fear, it takes a toll on love and caring.
6.     The way to make things right is to fight. Some angry people have learned at the feet of a master. Having grown up with parents who fight, it is their “normal.” They haven’t a clue how to negotiate differences or manage conflict except by escalating. Then they become very much like the parent they loathed and feared when they were kids.
7.     Other people should understand that they didn’t mean what they did or said when they were angry. Angry people feel that anger entitles them to let loose. It’s up to other people not to take seriously hurtful things they say or do. After all, they say, they were just angry. They don’t get it that other people are legitimately hurt, embarrassed, humiliated, or afraid.

Helping my patient Richard means helping him identify which of these assumptions are driving his temper tantrums. Some or all may apply. He may even have a few that are more uniquely his own. Teaching him rules for anger management, although important, isn’t enough to have long-term impact. Changing his assumptions will enable him to use such skills with conviction and confidence.

Marie Hartwell-Walker, Ed.D.
Article from http://psychcentral.com/

Turn the hopelessness within you into a fruitful opportunity. By RIDO

A handle on grief

May 11, 2013 in Features
Article from http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/may/11/a-handle-on-grief/

Barlow

Support group teaches, allows men to work through their losses

From his work as an educator, counselor and state legislator, from his background as an Ottawa Indian, an Episcopalian and a community volunteer, and from his experience as a parent, spouse and man, Don Barlow knows that each person deals with loss and grief in different ways.

Since last fall, he has volunteered with Hospice of Spokane to lead a men’s grief support group that meets Thursdays.

While his parents lived long, dying five years apart at age 91, the losses of his son, Jason, of a brain tumor in 1980 at age 10, of his second wife Elvera of pancreatic cancer in 1987 at age 47, and of his stepdaughter Laura of breast cancer in 1997 at age 29 – give him insights beyond his academic and therapeutic training and experience.

Barlow earned a bachelor’s degree in 1962 and a master’s degree in 1967, both from the University of Idaho. He worked at community mental health centers in his hometown of Boise, and in Twin Falls and Idaho Falls during and after his studies.

After earning a doctoral degree in educational administration at Pennsylvania State in 1978, he came to Spokane and worked with the school district until 1991, when he went into private practice, specializing in grief counseling.

While he was in college, he realized there was a program to help women students, but nothing for men, so he started a men’s student support program.

Similarly, he said, there is little to help men deal with their grief, losses, relationships, parenting and setting goals.

“Men and women grieve in different ways,” Barlow said. “We expect people to grieve as we do, but everyone has their own way of grieving. There is no timeline.

“Some men may do more physical activity to relieve their stress – running or weights. Some men may be stoic and not cry, considering that a sign of weakness,” he said. “Women go to a support group and cry to express their grief. So if men don’t cry, people wonder if they are feeling grief. They are, but they exhibit it in different ways.”

Leading a men’s grief group is something Barlow has wanted to do because of his positive experience with Hospice when his wife and stepdaughter died.

“If just men are together, they are more likely to discuss things with each other they wouldn’t talk about if they are with women. Many men are used to being silent, not speaking about their feelings,” he said.

“Tough guys come and at first just sit there, but eventually participate. It’s easy to draw them out just by asking, ‘What do you think?’ Then they are in the game,” he said. “Most have come because someone told them to come.”

Barlow said some men may turn their grief into anger and have problems managing it.

The support group is a way to let out their anger and find that others feel the same.

“The more we understand ourselves, the better we are in the long run,” Barlow said. “There is much unrelieved grief. Delay in dealing with grief can cause some men problems.”

In the 1970s, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross wrote about five stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, coping and accepting – as if they were steps to go through in that order.

“Not following in those steps does not mean a person is not dealing with grief, just dealing with it in a different way,” said Barlow, who keeps up with the latest techniques and therapies.

“We need to respect that people have different stories and different ways of grieving. Some need and want a road map, because we are not taught how to deal with grief and loss.”

A member of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church who has also been in a Southern Baptist Church, Barlow does not promote any faith perspective in the group.

He lets the men talk about their faith, based on their personal experiences, sensitive to the role faith can play in grief and healing.

Because of his experience, he offers reassurance when men ask, “Am I going to feel better?”

He knows that losses may weaken some and strengthen others, but overall trusts that they will feel better. It may be years, months or weeks. Everyone has their own rate.

May 11, 2013 in Features

Article from http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/may/11/a-handle-on-grief/

Turn the hopelessness within you into a fruitful opportunity. By RIDO

Do's and Don'ts of Teaching Your Child to Cope with Anger

Dr. Gail GrossFamily & Child Expert, Educator, Author. Ph.D. Ed.D.
Posted: 05/06/2013 3:04 pm
From http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-gail-gross/dos-and-donts-of-teaching-your-child-to-cope-with-anger_b_3202744.html

Do you find your child lashing out? Are you having trouble communicating with your child during moments of extreme frustration or aggression? While children are growing and still learning how to cope with anger, they tend to instinctively use anger as a defense against physical and emotional pain. As the parent, there are many ways you can help your child through these emotional moments.

Here are some helpful tips to teach your children how to cope with anger:

1. DO recognize and acknowledge your child's feelings. If you validate your child's feelings, then your child doesn't need to defend those feelings and is less likely to respond in anger. Acknowledging feelings causes your child's anger to soften and leaves a safe space in which he or she can learn empathy and coping skills. On the other hand, if you discount your children's feelings and experience, their anger will intensify as they fight to establish and validate their own sense of self.

2. DO practice empathy. By listening to your child's feelings without interruption or defense, you create space for your child's anger to dissipate, as they no longer need to use up energy defending the fairness of their position. By empathizing with your child's feelings, you are helping them regulate the cortisol -- the fight-or-flight chemical -- that emerges through emotional stress. The consistency of your open reception to your child's anger teaches him or her to react less emotionally and more critically. Ultimately, this is how nature and nurture come into balance, as a child's behavior affects body chemistry and therefore, their emotional control.

3. DO teach your children problem-solving skills. Neurological tracking occurs when children creatively problem-solve. The more children practice and rehearse problem-solving rather than emotional reacting, the more their neurological pathways assist them in controlling their impulses. Parents can teach their children how to recognize, acknowledge and appropriately cope with their feelings by asking questions that prompt children to think up their own solutions, such as "What do you think would happen if you did Choice A instead of Choice B?" or, "What sort of options do you think are available to you and what do you need to do to find a resolution?"

4. DO establish clear standards for acceptable and unacceptable behavior. This means that though we want to validate all our child is feeling, allowing those emotions does not translate into the acceptance of bad behavior. There are common rules of engagement which include: no hitting, throwing, breaking objects or disrespect. By involving children in establishing the consequences for their behavior, you will find that your children are more likely to respect the rules. By limiting your children's aggressive behavior, you are in a sense establishing a safety container for their feelings.

5. DO teach your child relaxation methods. By teaching children progressive relaxation, breathing techniques and other self-managing tools for stress, they can calm themselves down when confronted with anger. These techniques not only change the neural pathways, but also affect impulse control. Like every habit, the more your do it, the better you become at it. For example, if a child learns to breath in before giving in to the impulsive act of hitting, it gives that child a sense of control and lessens the need to establish control by acting out.

6. DO try a "time in" instead of a "time out." As the parent, you are your child's main guide in life, and as their guide, they rely on you to be there with them through their emotional experience, whatever that may be. Therefore, no time out, no isolation. Instead, try a "time in" -- sit with your child and incorporate other methods mentioned in this post: work on breathing with them, ask them questions about their feelings. The important thing is to be fully present with them to help them through their emotions. Remember, you are teaching your child social cues and skills to be in relationships with others, rather than acting out alone. When children are isolated, they often ruminate and feel guilty for their behavior. This only serves to create concrete reasons for low self-esteem, which often cycles back to creating bad behavior.

7. DON'T attempt to orchestrate your child's feelings. It is important to value what your child is experiencing. For example, if your child is hurt or crying, never say to them: "Stop crying." But rather, validate your child's experience, saying, "I know that hurts; that would make me cry also." This makes an ally out of you, rather than a target for free floating anxiety and anger.

As an ally, your child learns to trust you, realizing you are there for them -- no matter what, right or wrong, and that they can count on that. If your child can trust you, they can learn to trust themselves and the outer world. If, for example, your child tells you they hate you, or wants you to leave them alone, it is important to assure them that you will be nearby and that you will always be there for them -- no matter what.

8. DON'T go down to your child's level of behavior. Consciously and deliberately step into your role as the adult and remain there for the entire stressful episode. Little children can really work themselves up emotionally, especially while defending their position. Your job as a parent is to stay composed. Your state of calm allows your child to feel safe in the midst of chaos. A parent is always a child's touchstone, the one they look toward, for security and safety. Children become afraid when their parents display anger. By staying in your adult role, you are teaching your child that it is okay to feel angry, and that when the feeling passes, you are still there, holding a secure space for them.

9. DO teach your children to recognize anger cues. If children can self-monitor, they can self-manage. By recognizing the feelings that accompany anger, children can recognize the onset of those emotions. This gives them time in which to self-manage before they are caught in the chaos of emotion. If you see that your child is over-tired or cranky, you have the opportunity as a parent to teach them to recognize their oncoming emotions by resting with your child, reading to your child, or spending some cozy time together.

10. DO teach your children how to bring their feelings to consciousness. By recognizing the emotions that drive their behavior, children can learn to skillfully manage that behavior. Writing, drawing and painting are wonderful ways to express the issues that are bothering children, especially if they have trouble verbalizing their emotions. When my children were little and reached the point of no return in their emotional intensity, I bought a Shmoo, which is balloon that can be punched and pops back up. I gave permission for my children to use the pillows on their bed or the Shmoo to release some of the pent-up feelings of emotions. Once those feelings are out in the open, you can collaborate with your child to find ways of coping with these feelings empathically.

11. Invest your child in the process of managing their anger. Ask your children to give you some tips on how they could positively manage their emotions. Make a list of five actions they can take -- such as breathing deeply for one minute or drawing a picture -- and leave the list somewhere your child can see it, such as his or her bedroom door or on your refrigerator door.

12. DO bond with your child. A well-bonded child can learn to cope and manage his or her emotions, to problem-solve, to process and to stick with a problem until it is resolved. They are also more adventuresome and will creatively explore different options as solutions to problems. The well-bonded child feels like he or she can depend on parents.

In the end, remember that you, as the parent, make all the difference. By following these tips, you can help strengthen your relationship with your child and give them the tools they need to cope with their anger. If you notice that your child has relationship problems, is a bully, or tries to hurt themselves, others or animals, do consider seeking professional help for both you and your child.

If you would like to learn more about how children process anger, please visit my website www.DrGailGross.com

Dr. Gail GrossFamily & Child Expert, Educator, Author. Ph.D. Ed.D.
Posted: 05/06/2013 3:04 pm
From http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-gail-gross/dos-and-donts-of-teaching-your-child-to-cope-with-anger_b_3202744.html




Turn the hopelessness within you into a fruitful opportunity. By RIDO

Corralling Your Anger

We face situations in every aspect of our lives that can move us to anger. Here are some ways to defuse these tense moments

by Bruce Weinstein, PhD

All we have to do is open the newspaper, turn on the TV, or look at the world around us, and it won't take long to find something that makes us mad. Whether it's the high price of groceries and gas, the indignities of air travel, or the person in the next cubicle yakking loudly on a cell phone during working hours, every day we encounter plenty of things to keep our blood pressure at an unhealthy high.

It can be harmful to others and ourselves to vent our anger, but it can also be unhealthy and unwise to keep it bottled up. I will therefore offer five guidelines to make anger work for us instead of against us and that are grounded in the principles of ethics. I'll also show how these guidelines can be applied to three common and frustrating situations at work: the annoying co-worker, the incompetent assistant, and the hands-off boss. But first, let's take a look at what anger is, and why this emotion raises ethical issues.

Is Anger Inevitable?

Anger is the intense feeling associated with a perceived injustice. When you're trying to a enjoy a movie and the person next to you carries on a conversation with his companion in a normal tone of voice, you get angry, because you feel he is doing something he shouldn't be doing. Employees who spend too much time at work making personal phone calls or surfing the Internet incur the wrath of their boss and their colleagues because they're doing something they shouldn't be doing (and not doing something they should be doing, namely their work).

Although the experience of anger is psychological, its roots are in the realm of ethics; we get angry when we believe others have violated their ethical obligations to be fair (BusinessWeek.com, 2/15/07) or to treat us with respect (BusinessWeek.com, 1/31/07).

Ethics plays a role not just in what gives rise to our anger, but in what we choose to do with it. The expression of anger can be harmful, and we have an ethical obligation to do no harm. Domestic violence, sexual assault, and murder are the most extreme examples of what happens when anger get out of hand.

But death and physical trauma are not the only harms that can result from the free expression of anger. Insulting, threatening, or demeaning a person can produce feelings of anxiety or fear that are forms of harm, even if that person emerges without bruises or broken bones. Taking ethics seriously and being a person of conscience therefore means, in part, ensuring our anger doesn't get out of hand.

Five Rules of Engagement

Thich Nhat Hanh, the celebrated Vietnamese Buddhist monk, noted that some people believe a good way to deal with anger is to beat up a pillow. However, he believes this makes us feel worse because we intensify the very feelings we're trying to dissipate. Keeping our anger bottled up isn't an acceptable solution either, since doing so won't change the situation we're angry about, and we're more likely to erupt with hostility somewhere down the line, which benefits no one. What, then, are some better ways of dealing with anger?

Here are my suggestions for using anger constructively and ethically when you encounter a situation that makes you angry:

1. STOP: Don't react right away. Take some time to assess what is going on.

2. BREATHE: Deeply. Cooling down will make it easier to come up with a strategy that will succeed.

3. LOOK: At the matter from another point of view. What are all of the possible explanations for why this is happening?

4. ASK: "What response is most likely to be effective?" It probably won't involve blowing your stack.

5. GET: Help if need be. The problem may be too big to handle alone. Help can even be in the form of some feedback from another person.

This is a commonsense approach to tackling infuriating situations with a cool head. Decisions made when we're boiling with rage rarely turn out to be good ones.

How might we apply this five-step approach in our daily lives?

The Annoying Co-worker

Whether it's their music played too loudly, personal cell-phone conversations that go on and on, or too frequent visits to your office that waste time, co-workers can really get on your nerves, can't they? It's tempting to tell them to shut up or get lost, but not only is this disrespectful, it's not likely to get you what you want.

Instead of quietly seething, only to erupt in anger when you can't take it anymore, why not let the annoying person know as kindly as possible that what he's doing is making it difficult for you to get your work done, and then state whatever it is you'd like to have happen? The only way for us to have our needs met is to make it clear to others what those needs are.

The Incompetent Assistant

When a person who works for you can't meet your standards, berating her and saying demeaning things is, as in the situation above, disrespectful and ineffective. If you've read other Ask the Ethics Guy columns, you know the recurring theme: Taking the high road isn't just the right thing to do; it's also the smart thing to do.

The problem could be that your assistant is intimidated by you, and fear is getting in the way of his doing a good job. It could also be that the talents and skills this person has aren't matched by the job assignment. It might even be the case that your standards are too high, and no one—not even you—could reasonably be expected to meet them.

Isn't it in your own interest to try to find out what is really going on? Falling into the familiar pattern of getting angry, not getting the results you want, and then getting angrier won't accomplish anything. As the saying goes, "If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten."

The Hands-off Boss

Some bosses get on your nerves because they're always on your case, but it's just as bad, if not worse, to have a supervisor who has too little involvement in your work. A good manager has to be present and can't assume subordinates will be able to figure out what he or she wants. It is understandable to feel anger at being given tasks to do and little or no direction for how to do them; a manager who isn't around often is someone who appears not to care.

This is where looking at the situation from a different perspective can help: Rather than being uncaring, the absentee manager may simply be overcommitted or even unaware that others want or need direction. Your solution, then, is to get involved, not mad. Letting the boss know what bothers you and what you'd like to change will benefit everyone: the company, your clients, and you. After all, ethics isn't just about what you owe others. It's about what others owe you, and you have a right to be treated respectfully and fairly by your boss and everyone else with whom you work.

Of course, the five-step method for dealing with anger doesn't apply to every possible situation. The bigger the issue—global warming, terrorism, our collapsing economy—the more complex the solution. Complicated problems also may not have an immediately identifiable party with whom we can work things out. Nevertheless, many of the frustrating situations we encounter can be helped by the solutions I've presented here.

Weinstein is the corporate consultant, author, and public speaker known as The Ethics Guy. He has appeared on numerous national TV shows and is the author of several books on ethics. His Ask the Ethics Guy! column appears every other week on BusinessWeek.com's Managing channel.

From Business Week

Turn the hopelessness within you into a fruitful opportunity. By RIDO

Positive Steps for Managing Conflict - 10 strategies to help minimize the negative impacts of office tension

BY DR. DAVID G. JAVITCH | March 11, 2010

From: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/205490

Situation: Morgan and Jose are arguing about which steps to take next to implement the Micah Project. Morgan wants to move ahead immediately; Jose wants to rethink the situation and perhaps consult with other members of the department to avoid making a rash decision. Morgan becomes impatient and blames Jose for dragging his feet once again. Jose doesn't want to ruffle Morgan's feathers, so he does nothing about the differences of opinion, hoping that Morgan will let up on the pressure. The result is a stalemate.

This is a typical situation where conflict freezes progress and stymies many managers. We must first ask why Jose, like so many other employees, does nothing. The answer is because he probably believes in some very common and unfortunate myths about conflict:

Conflict is bad and terrible things will occur if differences in opinion are aired.

Conflict will rip apart the team or its esprit de corps.

Other employees will be mad at him.

He would be calling too much attention to himself by making a big deal out of the situation.

It's better not to engage in conflict; harmony must prevail at all costs.

The parties will never get over those negative feelings.

The issue will cause a chain reaction that will halt or delay productivity and involve other people.

At this point, you as the leader might be questioning your own views of conflict, as well you should. But do you know how to actually define conflict? No, it's not some terrible, unmanageable, out-of-control creature. Conflict is simply defined as tension, which is neither good nor bad. Positive tension, that energy that leads to increased creativity, innovation and productivity, is a dynamic byproduct of two or more people sharing their views, even if their views are inconsistent or out of synch with each other. Negative tension is an unproductive, off-putting, harmful result of people not working together to arrive at a positive solution.

What causes tension? The list is endless and mostly individualistic. We all have our vulnerabilities and views that lead to tension, especially the more common negative tension. Most people experience negative conflict when they are supervised and fear an unfavorable evaluation. Similarly, tension arises when employees feel they are being compared with each other or are vying for the same resources, such as time, money, people or equipment. Other employees are conflicted when under deadlines, especially when they do not have the assistance of other helpful employees. Still others have great difficulty dealing with change; breaking or changing habits is almost always difficult. Even if a change seems to be positive, it often is accompanied by some form of conflict, simply due to the change or potential performance evaluation under a new system with new policies, processes or colleagues. And finally, negative tension easily and most commonly erupts with differences in opinions, especially those that are firmly held.

So what positive steps can leaders take to minimize the negative aspects of conflict?

Realize that conflict is natural and happens all the time.

Stress the positive aspects of conflict; just because tension arises, the world is not going to collapse. In fact, if handled well, conflict often leads to innovation.

Realize that conflict can be handled in a positive way that leads to personal and professional growth, development and productivity.

Encourage others to bring up conflict and differences. Allowing them to fester inevitably encourages them to erupt later, usually at a most inopportune time.

Identify the root cause(s) of the conflict. You can't begin to unravel the potential negativity in conflict and look toward progress until you determine the source of the issue.

Look at the issue from all sides. Inspect the positive and negative factors that each party sees to fully comprehend what is at stake.

Devise a complete list of actions to address the issue; ensure that each party believes that he/she has had input in the final product or decision.

Decide on the step that best addresses and resolves the issue. Again, all parties need to see that they have had input into this step.

Agree on whatever next steps are necessary to implement the mutually agreed-upon action.

Review the process that you used to arrive at the final decision, hoping to implement a similar successful plan when negative conflict next arises.

An effective leader is willing to address spoken and unspoken negative tension and helps transform it into positive, productive tension that leads to increased understanding of the issues, the parties involved and the final outcome.

From: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/205490

Turn the hopelessness within you into a fruitful opportunity. By RIDO

Ten Ways Finance Can Be a Force for Good in Society

Robert ShillerProfessor of Economics, Yale University

Posted: 04/11/2012 12:11 pm

Article from Huffington Post

The finance profession gets maligned after every financial crisis. The anger is especially strong now, after the most recent financial crisis, which began in 2007, and the anger that is felt about it goes far beyond the Occupy Wall Street movement. The crisis is often viewed as more than an unfortunate accident, but as a revelation of an underlying moral fault.

Of course, some people in finance are evil, but that is true in every walk of life.

Maybe the wrongdoings of financiers loom especially large in our imagination, since some in finance make so much money doing it. We naturally want a more equal society where most people feel fulfilled and sense a basic respect from others. But, we have to think about how achieve that kind of equality without disrupting our goals or disturbing our standard of living.

Moving forward from here, we need to think about how we can make finance work toward a society that is both comfortable for all of us and stimulating and forward-moving as well. In my view, doing that means tinkering with some of the financial institutional structures so that they work better for everyone, and expanding the scope of finance to cover more of our risks and activities. That means enlisting the help of people with financial expertise. Throwing a lot of financial people in jail or shutting down financial institutions are not on my list.

In my new book Finance and the Good Society (Princeton) I advance some ideas how this can be done, in our new information-technology-rich society:

1. Advance the benefit corporation. 

From the initiative of the nonprofit B Lab, the first law allowing benefit corporations was created in Maryland in 2010, and now eight states have them. A benefit corporation is a for-profit corporation that has some additional social or environmental purpose other than just making profits. Each benefit corporation can define its own purpose and will attract its own kind of idealists as investors. My guess is that this new idea will turn out to be a winner, that will yield some of our most profitable corporations because of the employee and community support they will inspire. The amazing example of Wikipedia, with its unpaid authors, shows how public purpose can motivate people.

2. Create what I am calling, in my new book, participation nonprofits, nonprofits that might run schools or hospitals or the like, but that raise money by selling shares to the public. 

Such a firm pays dividends from its profits into a special account in the name of the shareholder. The shareholders get a charitable tax deduction for making the investment, but can use the dividends in the account only for further charitable contributions, including purchasing shares in participation nonprofits, or can spend them on themselves in some predefined emergency situations such as a medical crisis. With participation nonprofits, charitable giving will be more fun for the donors, for they could watch their money grow and feel their influence grow with it, if they invest wisely, fulfilling a natural human need for stimulation and appreciation. For example, the Wikipedia Foundation might have been even more successful if it had been set up as a participation nonprofit, and found some revenue opportunity associated with their mission. Instead of operating on a shoestring of the mere 75 employees it has today, I'll bet it would have received many billions in donations by now, which it probably could use for a much expanded social purpose.

3. Create what I am calling continuous-workout mortgages, mortgages whose contract specifies from the beginning that the loan balance will be reduced in contingencies like a decline in home prices or a severe economic recession.

In the current crisis, we are hampered by the fact that few troubled homeowners are getting workouts on their mortgages. This has been a significant factor in the severity of the crisis, since people who are underwater on their mortgages are not likely to spend, or to move to take a new job. Workouts could be not only preplanned but also made continuous, responding day by day to every change in the economic situation of the homeowner.

4. Get risk-management markets for real estate risks going on a high level. 

In 2006, my colleagues and I worked with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to launch the world's first futures exchange for single-family homes. The market is still going, though trade is very weak. But the CME Group has just launched new options on home prices, which may rekindle the market. If this initiative does not work well either, we need to come up with another initiative to make these markets work, which will enable private mortgage issuers to use them as risk management devices so that they can do such things as create continuous workout mortgages without taking on unacceptable risks by doing so. The financial crisis might largely have been prevented if we had such markets.

5. Empower lobbyists on behalf of the 99%, the people who make up all of the population except the very wealthy. 

There is nothing wrong with lobbyists per se, for they give needed information to lawmakers. Every interest group should have lobbyists, including the working class and the poor. Financial lobbying is especially important since lawmakers cannot be expected to have expertise on difficult financial concepts. The problem has been that the financial lobbyists have grown dramatically in resources in recent decades, while other groups' lobbyists have not. Supporting a better balance of lobbying efforts needs to be emphasized.

6. Advance the cause of risk management for the very poor. 

There are billions in the world today whose survival depends on subsistence farming. Farms ought to be able to insure their crops against failure due to bad weather. Traditional crop insurance has not worked because crops are difficult to verify and there is thus a moral hazard problem. Now that weather reporting is more detailed, and now that agronomists better understand the relation between crops and weather, we can base insurance on the weather changes that affect crops. The take-up by farmers of such insurance has been slow, despite demonstration programs sponsored by the World Bank and other donors. We need to experiment more with marketing forms until we get these right.

7. Create more sophisticated forms of public debt. 

At the present time, national governments tend to rely exclusively on conventional debt to finance their deficits, in contrast to companies who use both debt and equity as well as a plethora of other financial devices. A simple first step would be for governments to sell shares analogous to the shares in corporations that are traded on stock markets. My Canadian colleague Mark Kamstra and I have proposed that governments with deficits, instead of borrowing more now, start selling what we call trills: each trill promises to pay a dividend equal to trillionth of GDP each year to the owner, in perpetuity. Investors who are optimistic about GDP might love these investments, and governments would then find that they are cushioned against financial crises like the present crisis since their required dividend payments decline then.

8. Create tradable social policy bonds. 

The idea, first articulated by Ronnie Horesh in New Zealand, is for governments to create bonds that pay out if some specified social policy objective, such as an increase in public awareness of some important issue or a decline in some specified crime rate. By creating such bonds, an incentive is created for private sector initiatives to solve them. An entrepreneur can profit by buying the bonds and taking steps to solve the problem. The entrepreneur does not have to wait to profit until the day when the policy objective is finally met, for, if these bonds are traded on public markets, the price of the bonds will tend to increase in anticipation of the fulfillment as soon as the prospect is apparent.

9. Create an inequality indexation scheme in the tax code. 

We would pass a law now that specifies that taxes will be indexed to inequality: tax rates on higher incomes will be automatically raised at any future date when inequality surpasses a specified threshold level worse than it is today. It should be politically much easier to create such a contingency plan now, to be triggered only at a future date if some specified level of higher inequality is reached, than to raise taxes later after such inequality is a reality and a political constituency for the newly rich is created. Just as, with fire insurance, one must insure a house before it burns down. So to, if we are to view increased inequality as a risk with a financial solution, we should take risk-managing actions while it is still just a risk.

10. Create livelihood insurance, insurance offered to individuals against declines in the average income paid to people in their professional specialty. 

We already have disability insurance, insurance that protects individuals against loss of income due to illness. In the information age, we ought to be able to expand such insurance, without triggering moral hazard, to protect people against possibly catastrophic drops in lifetime earnings that sometimes occur when people's occupational income suffers a serious hit because of some technological innovation or change in the economy. If people are able to insure their livelihoods against such events, they will not only rest easier, they will be able to be more adventuresome in their career choices.

All of these ideas are expansion of basic financial technology toward the broader social benefits. The first step in making any such things happen is first to appreciate the kinds of financial institutions we already have, as well as their defects. We need then to improve and build up this financial infrastructure so that it works better in our lives.

Robert Shiller is professor of economics and finance at Yale University. This month Finance and the Good Society appeared and also a new revised version of his free video online Financial Markets course, part of Open Yale, was launched.

Article from Huffington Post

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