Prone to blow your stack? Other drivers drive you nuts? Get crazy when someone pulls out in front of you? Feel like pulverizing people who just won’t shut off their turn signal and it keeps blinking, blinking, blinking?
Bob WeathersGood news: It’s not your fault! That’s right. Thanks to modern psychology, you no longer have to feel guilty for losing control, for letting rage get the best of you. Because, it now seems, what we have called “road rage” is actually a psychological malady impressively entitled “intermittent explosive disorder.”
According to a new study, doctors now recognize that nearly 16 million people suffer from this disorder, which causes them to lose their tempers in outbursts which may include “threats or aggressive actions and property damage.” Someone suffering from this disorder averages about 43 “attacks” in a lifetime. And, get this: The disorder typically first appears in adolescence; the average age of onset is 14. Well, that explains a lot. And all this time I thought teenagers were just – you know – moody.
Not so, says Dr. Emil Coccaro, a co-author of the study. He patiently explains, “People think it’s bad behavior and that you just need an attitude adjustment, but what they don’t know – is that there’s a biology and cognitive science to this.”
So now, finally, you have an excuse, backed by science, to lose your cool. Or do you?
Our postmodern experts may instruct us to embrace the notion that we can jettison responsibility for our actions, but that is not what we get from God. In fact, when we abdicate personal responsibility, we also reject a key component of our humanity. To be made in God’s image is to be a person of responsibility.
And that includes those angry outbursts. The Bible’s simple answer: Get control. Without apology or analysis, the Bible says, “A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control” (Prov. 29:11).
So if you have an anger problem, and especially if you are prone to explode, determine to exercise self-control. Ask God for help. He promises that His Spirit will do just that, as He bears the fruit of God’s character in you (Gal. 5:23).
Because, in the end, your anger is your responsibility.