farmdoc's blog post number 81

Barry Hall is an Australian Rules footballer who plays for, and has captained, the Sydney Swans. A big man, he plays vigorously – arguably over-vigorously. His more controversial displays of vigour are catalogued on Wikipedia. In round 4 of the 2008 season he punched an opponent so forcefully that the opponent required a neck collar. Hall was suspended for seven matches and underwent anger management. In his third game after the suspension he hit another player, and so his club has suspended him indefinitely. Anger is a normal emotion. Everyone feels it. It is powerful. Most people control their anger, but a minority – including Hall – are controlled by it. Anger interests me because for as long as I can remember I have had flareups of anger out of proportion to the stimuli. I am working to minimise and hopefully eliminate those occurrences, with partial success to date. I believe that as the world becomes more crowded and inequalities become more pronounced, anger – including road rage, physical assault, vandalism and terrorism – will become more prevalent. As for most problems I mention in Farmdoc’s Blog, I don’t have answers. Those most in need of anger intervention are the least likely to have the necessary motivation and insight. And treatment resources are scarce. Barry Hall may be one of the lucky ones. Time will tell.