And, at a personal level, I periodically express my anger by striking out at inanimate objects such as walls and doors, sometimes causing myself significant pain in the process. Hidden Anger Consider a mother who has all smiles for her children in public but in the privacy of her home whips them bloody for no good cause. Consider a husband who is the dream employee but who, when at home, becomes abusive, ruling with a fierce and violent temper. The mother may be angry at her husband but afraid to express her anger for fear he will leave her. The husband may feel rage that he has been passed over for promotion too many times but his fear of his boss makes him seek other targets for his pent up anger.
Domestic violence leaves a terrible trail of broken lives.
These are the cases we don't hear about, the people who suffer in private, behind closed doors. The cases we do hear about, the women who murder their abusers, for example, demonstrate another facet of anger, action and reaction. Some people refuse to get visibly angry. Instead, they focus their anger on strangers or helpless animals. One man reacted to a breakup with his girlfriend by kicking his cat halfway across his yard.