Rageaholic

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A "rageaholic" is a person who gets excited by expressing rage, or a person prone to extreme anger with little or no provocation. [1] While "rageaholic" is not a formal medical diagnosis, it has been developed as a popular psychology term by counselors and anger-management groups seeking to help people who are chronically angry and who compulsively express fits of rage. There are also 12-step programs for dealing with rageaholics, such as Rageaholics Anonymous in Los Angeles, California, United States (US). [2]

Contents

Origin of term

The word "rageaholic" is patterned after terms such as "alcoholic" and "workaholic", and the condition is called "rageaholism". The term is relatively rare compared to the older term "alcoholic"; that is, 30 major online dictionaries on the Internet define alcoholic, whereas few include "rageaholic" as a valid term. [3]

Potential triggers and coping skills

The Rageaholics Anonymous chapter in Los Angeles, CA (compare with Alcoholics Anonymous), warns of several potential triggers for people who want to control their own tendency toward growing fits of rage: [4]

Once an alcoholic takes that first drink, their chances of getting drunk increase exponentially. Once a rageaholic expresses their anger, their chances of throwing a tantrum also increase exponentially. Rageaholics Anonymous advises, "Abstaining completely from acting on anger is the only answer for a rageaholic." [4] The following are things that can be done right now to avoid expressing the anger and opening the door to another rageaholic episode. [4]

See also

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References

  1. "Rageaholic" in Webster's New Millennium of English, Preview Edition (v0.9.7), 2003–2008, Lexico Publishing Co., webpage: Dcom-rageaholic
  2. "Rageaholics Anonymous Stopping the Anger Cycle", adapted from Newton Hightower's Anger Busting 101, Rageaholics Anonymous in Los Angeles, 2007
  3. "alcoholic – OneLook Dictionary Search", OneLook Dictionary Search, 2008, webpage: OneLook-alcoholic.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 adapted from Newton Hightower's Anger Busting 101.