Accessibility links
The Other Side of Anger What We Can Learn From This Powerful Emotion
Special Series

The Other Side of Anger

What We Can Learn From This Powerful Emotion
When teens threaten violence, a community responds with compassion

In 2011, a 17-year-old named Mishka told readers of his Facebook post that his Salem, Ore., high school was "asking for a f***ing shooting." That post and other furious outbursts triggered a quick, but deep evaluation by the school district's threat assessment unit. Beth Nakamura for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Beth Nakamura for NPR

Shots - Health News

When teens threaten violence, a community responds with compassion

After years of being beaten up, this teen decided to take justice into his own hands. A school district in Oregon showed him a better way to solve his problems.

Listen here

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/693136117/694426393" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Got Anger? Try Naming It To Tame It

To tame your anger, it may help to take time to observe and name it. Ariel Davis for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Ariel Davis for NPR

Shots - Health News

Got Anger? Try Naming It To Tame It

While many people believe that how we feel and express anger is hard-wired, some scientists suggest our experience and culture help shape it. One way to get a handle on it may be to personalize it.

Got Anger? Try Naming It To Tame It

Listen · 7:01
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/688180879/689237375" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
If You're Often Angry Or Irritable, You May Be Depressed
Ariel Davis for NPR

Shots - Health News

If You're Often Angry Or Irritable, You May Be Depressed

Physicians have been taught to look for signs of hopelessness, sadness and lack of motivation to help them diagnose depression. But anger as a depression symptom is less often noticed or addressed.

If You're Often Angry Or Irritable, You May Be Depressed

Listen · 6:37
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/689747637/691221630" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Anger Can Be Contagious — Here's How To Stop The Spread
Ariel Davis for NPR

Shots - Health News

Anger Can Be Contagious — Here's How To Stop The Spread

Emotions circulate through social networks — the good, bad and ugly. And these days, the feeling that seems most viral is anger. Sometimes it takes just one act of kindness to stop the vicious cycle.

Anger Can Be Contagious — Here's How To Stop The Spread

Listen · 6:27
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/697052006/697616019" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
School Shooters: Understanding their path to violence is key to prevention
Ariel Davis for NPR

Shots - Health News

School Shooters: Understanding their path to violence is key to prevention

Psychologists and the FBI say they are getting a better understanding of the mix of factors that lead some kids to open fire on a classroom. The shooting can be an act of desperation fueled by anger.

School Shooters: Understanding their path to violence is key to prevention

Listen · 6:09
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/690372199/694021702" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
From Fruit Fly To Stink Eye: Searching For Anger's Animal Roots
Ariel Davis for NPR

Shots - Health News

From Fruit Fly To Stink Eye: Searching For Anger's Animal Roots

Scientists say comedian Lewis Black has a lot in common with fruit flies. They're both really good at acting angry, probably because human anger has roots in animal aggression.

From Fruit Fly To Stink Eye: Searching For Anger's Animal Roots

Listen · 6:06
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/688620302/689760988" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
He Was Imprisoned And Losing His Mind. 'Anna Karenina' Saved Him
Qieer Wang for NPR

Goats and Soda

He Was Imprisoned And Losing His Mind. 'Anna Karenina' Saved Him

A man is trapped in prison for a made-up crime. He's overwhelmed by hopelessness and anger. That is until he hears a knock on the wall ... and words from another time and place.

He Was Imprisoned And Losing His Mind. 'Anna Karenina' Saved Him

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/706870472/706989756" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
The Power Of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Anger
William Lovelace/Getty Images

Code Switch

The Power Of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Anger

Martin Luther King Jr. dealt with anger in both his personal life and life's work. He often tried to turn his anger into constructive action, but he did occasionally struggle with that balance.

The Power Of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Anger

Listen · 5:59
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/691298594/696413704" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
How To Demand A Medical Breakthrough: Lessons From The AIDS Fight

AIDS activist group ACT UP organized numerous protests on Wall Street in the 1980s. The group's tactics helped speed the process of finding an effective treatment for AIDS. Tim Clary/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Tim Clary/AP

Shots - Health News

How To Demand A Medical Breakthrough: Lessons From The AIDS Fight

When the AIDS crisis started in the 1980s, the official response was tepid. Then activists channeled their anger into into one of the most effective protest movements in recent history.

How To Demand A Medical Breakthrough: Lessons From The AIDS Fight

Listen · 7:14
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/689924838/692955908" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Harnessing The Power Of 'The Angry Black Woman'

For many black women, knowing when and how to express anger can be a tricky political decision that some women avoid altogether. Author Brittney Cooper discusses using anger as a force for good.

Harnessing The Power Of 'The Angry Black Woman'

Listen · 5:28
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/689925868/697556379" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
'You Get Paid For Doing Therapy': Stand-Up Comedians On Anger

Comedian Mo Amer, seen here in his Netflix special The Vagabond, says that stand-up has been a significant part of his "coping process" with an itinerant childhood. Netflix hide caption

toggle caption
Netflix

'You Get Paid For Doing Therapy': Stand-Up Comedians On Anger

For centuries, people have turned to jesters for relief from the miseries of life. As it turns out, some stand-up performers turn pain and rage into their own coping and catharsis.

'You Get Paid For Doing Therapy': Stand-Up Comedians On Anger

Listen · 5:45
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/689926199/696172557" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Browse archive or search npr.org