[Columbine]

Originally Posted by dogsbody70

using a punch bag is perfectly safe. all this fancy psychology. GO out and do something energetic--- useful. when i was upset with no one to talk to i found that punching cushions did help. not punching people.

With all due respect, you are vastly confusing the average, manageable frustations that most of us suffer on a day-to-day basis, with an actual and debilitating problem with controlling strong emotions. The average person can very easily go whack a cushion when they're a bit mad with no problem, but telling someone who literally falls into an irrational anger so intense that they CANNOT stop themselves from physically lashing out at anything around them, to go and hit things whenever they experience stress, is like telling an alcoholic to go drink vodka whenever they feel thirsty. Exercise to dispel stress is fine, I'm not disputing that, but violent activity would be less than helpful.

Originally Posted by RobinMask

I'm not saying that this would apply to everyone, as you said you aren't violent and this method works for you, but if you had someone who's emotions are all over the place - basically unstable - as the original poster is, then is it a good idea? You have control over your emotions and can say 'I won't punch someone if I'm angry', but if the OP hasn't that control (which she admits she hasn't) then who's to say she wouldn't punch someone also?

Right, it's a blind rage. It's not even remotely rational; I had a class mate who suffered from it as a side effect of his depression- his aggression got sparked off at random once when he tried to do laundry and discovered they were out of laundry powder and he 'came to' (his words) straddling his brother and trying to strangle him. He was horrified; he gets on well with his brother (sibling squabbles aside) and certainly didn't wish him that kind of harm.

Originally Posted by RobinMask

I think a good compromise between the two might be physical sports. Boxing, martial arts, swimming etc., because then you get the excercise and the burst of something phsyical/violent to exert that anger, but at the same time you're being taught the self-control and restraint with it, and its in a controlled environment. Although this is when someone tells me that will be bad conditioning too, in which case I'm out of ideas, lol!

I think the key word is 'physical', rather than violent. Boxing and martial arts probably wouldn't be all that helpful for people with a very extreme reaction, but for some with more issues to do with say, seeking fights for no good reason or if they have only a moderate lack of control over their anger, the obedience aspect of the art and the philosophy could be a good way to refocus their intentions. Swimming's really not a bad idea though, things like cycling or even just instant sorts of exercise; My class mate used to do really fast sit ups when he felt himself getting mad until his meds got settled enough for him to control it in other ways.