 Rage
In psychiatry, rage is a mental state that is one extreme of the intensity
spectrum of anger. When a person experiences rage, it usually lasts until a
threat is removed or the person under rage is incapacitated. The other end of
the spectrum is annoyance . Psycho-pathological problems such as depression
increase the chances of experiencing feelings of rage.
Rage can sometimes lead to a state of mind where the individual experiencing it
believes, and often is capable of doing things that may normally seem physically
impossible. Those experiencing rage usually feel the effects of high adrenaline
levels in the body. This increase in adrenal output raises the physical strength
and endurance levels of the person. One's senses become extremely acute due to
the high amounts of adrenaline in the body, and, on the opposite end, this also
reduces one's sensation of pain. People in rage may also experience events in a
sort of slow motion. An explanation of this "time dilation" effect is that
instead of actually slowing our perception of time, high levels of adrenaline
increase our ability to recall specific minutae of an event after it occurs.
Since humans gauge time based on the amount of things they can remember,
high-adrenaline events such as those experienced during periods of rage seem to
unfold more slowly.
A person in a state of rage may also lose much of his or her capacity for
rational thought and reasoning, and may act, usually violently, on his or her
impulses to the point that they may attack until they themselves have been
incapacitated or the source of their rage has been destroyed.
A person in rage may also experience tunnel vision, muffled hearing, increased
heart rate and hyperventilation. They often focus only on the source of their
anger. The large amounts of adrenaline and oxygen in the bloodstream may cause a
person's extremities to shake.
Some research suggests that an individual is more susceptible to having feelings
of depression and anxiety if he or she experiences rage on a frequent basis.
Health complications become much worse if an individual represses feelings of
rage (Begley, 1994). Cardiac stress and hypertension are other health
complications that will occur when rage is experienced on a regular basis.
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