By Invitation: Managing anger in these stressful times

There are many possible responses to rage. Smashing your laptop is not recommended.

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Dante placed these seven sins in descending order in his version of hell in his epic 14th-century poem, The Divine Comedy, and situated anger in the Fifth Circle of Hell, where the actively wrathful fought viciously with each other on the slimy and foul waters of the river Styx; while the sullen (the passively wrathful with unexpressed rage) languished in the depths of the water and sank "into a black sulkiness which can find no joy in God or man or the universe".

While anger can be expressed with explosive force, it can also be silent. Dante was presciently insightful of the effect of this inarticulateness to express anger, which we often encounter in psychiatry.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on November 16, 2019, with the headline By Invitation: Managing anger in these stressful times. Subscribe