In support of the rage of man

[bennyboy]

No, I mean triggered along the lines of fight/flight mechanism, i.e. a deep and automatic response that once a certain critical emotional mass is arrived at, is no longer in any way under control of the individual's conscious intent.

But that also happens when you get triggered by a memory of a traumatic event. It can be difficult sometimes to recognise that you are getting triggered, especially if you don't normally have a history of it. Of course if you don't have any traumatic events in your past then obviously it's not the cause.

I'm now starting to get triggered by things but then I'm also now no longer suppressing my emotions and am starting to face up to traumatic events from my past. But before that, I would sometimes have trouble controlling my temper. That's because I've only learned to choose fight rather than flight. I suppose it wouldn't even require a traumatic event, just being raised in an environment steeped in physical violence would be enough.

I think you'd have to look pretty hard to find someone with anger problems who wasn't fairly seriously neglected, abused, or traumatized.  If you are under the illusion that the world is generally a safe and welcoming place, why would you really ever face a fight/flight situation?

Other animals, except maybe for a few pets, aren't under that illusion.  It takes a life time of sheltered world-view formation to arrive at the idea that civilized society is much more than the collective imagination of some particularly well-sheltered primates.

It also doesn't take more than a single encounter, or a few, to disillusion one.  And then what's left?  Those instincts, and a sense of betrayal, and eyes that dart around a little more.