Well Wisconsin Radio

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Hello and welcome to Well Wisconsin Radio. A podcast discussing health and well-being topics with experts from all around the state of Wisconsin. I’m your host, Alexis Krause, and today my guest is Dr. Ryan Martin, aka the Anger Professor. He researches and writes on healthy and unhealthy expressions of anger. His books, How to Deal with Angry People and Why We Get Mad, How to Use Your Anger for Positive Change, explore why people become angry, how people can use their anger in productive ways, and how to work effectively with angry people. Ryan is the former host of the popular psychology podcast, Psychology and Stuff. He was trained as a counseling psychologist at the University of Southern Mississippi, where he first started studying anger after earning his undergraduate degree in psychology with a minor in criminal justice from the University of St. Thomas. He has worked with clients, angry clients and otherwise, in a variety of settings, including community mental health centers, college counseling centers, and a VA hospital. He is the Dean for the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at the University of Green Bay. His work has been featured in the New York Times, NPR’s Invisibilia Podcast, BBC Radio’s Digital Human, Ted. com, and elsewhere. When he’s not thinking about feelings, he runs and spends time with his family.

Well, welcome Ryan. Thanks for being here with me today. I’m excited to dive in. Um, could you start with telling me a bit about the various emotions you study and how they’re different from one another? Things like anger, sadness, disappointment. Yeah, you bet. You know, I, I, in some ways I sort of went at this backwards, right?

I started out studying anger, um, and really being interested in that. And then over time, I actually sort of went back to study emotions more generally and to start studying other emotions. And so, um, the, the primary thing that I really spend the bulk of my time researching is anger. Um, really looking at why people get angry, the, the circumstances, the types of thoughts they have, but then also what they do when they get angry.

So how do they express it? And, and so on. Um, but I’m also really interested in emotions just more generally. And so when we think about sort of what some of the, the other emotions are, some of the basics, um, you know, it’s sadness, fear, Uh, happiness, um, I’m, I’m particularly interested in curiosity. Um, and that’s mostly influenced by the fact that I’m a teacher and, uh, you know, curiosity is one of the, sort of the, the driving emotions associated with learning.

Yeah, that goes hand in hand. Yep, exactly. And so, um, so those are some of the things that I’m most intrigued by. Um, I think, you know, when it comes to sort of, uh, part of why I like studying emotions is because at the core, most of them are. Kind of the same right like why not the not the circumstances under which we feel them But when you think about like what they entail, I mean, it’s it’s physiology it’s uh types of thoughts and it’s types of behaviors, right so um, you can kind of break every feeling every emotion down into those three things, right?
There’s a uh when there’s a provocation or a stimulus that leads to it, um, we start to have, uh, a particular set of physiological responses. Um, and those actually don’t differ very much. So when you’re scared or when you’re angry or, uh, embarrassed or anything like that, your heart rate increases, your muscles tense up, you, you know, um, uh, your digestive system slows down.
I mean, it’s basically the fight or flight system kicks in. Okay. When, um, you know, so there’s that physiology, then there are some thoughts that tend to kick in. And those thoughts do differ quite a bit, right? So when you’re scared, it’s because you, you perceive something as a threat. You’ve decided this thing is dangerous and this is threatening.

When you’re angry, it’s because you’ve decided this thing is unfair, right? Or, or, um, uh, you know, or poor treatment or blocking your goals or something like that. Um, and so the, those thoughts really differ, uh, across those. So does what we do or what we want to do. Um, so the behaviors, um, so when you’re scared, you flee.
When you’re angry, you oftentimes want to lash out or fight. Um, when you are sad, you sometimes withdraw. Um, so like the behaviors that we engage in oftentimes, um, when, you’re curious, um, you, you try to gain new information, right? You, so that behavior is, is different. So, um, you know, I, the reason I’m so interested in these things is because I think that oftentimes, you know, we talk a lot about behavior management or trying to change our behaviors, those things are oftentimes driven by our feelings.

And so if we really want to change what we do, a lot of times that requires us to change how we feel. Right and understand those. Yeah, it’s so interesting that the base of a lot of those have the same feeling that bubbles up in us and how we behave follows it. Yep, and the what’s so to me what’s so interesting about that is so if the physiology is largely the same it’s not exactly the same, but if the physiology is largely the same across emotions then what’s really different there is probably our thoughts.

And so how we are interpreting this thing that’s happened, probably what is dictating whether or not we are scared or, angry and what we choose to do next. And so that to me is really interesting because that becomes a place we can intervene. If I want to, if I want to behave differently, then I should think a little differently, uh, about what’s going on. Yeah, that makes total sense. Um, could you tell us a bit about what frustration tolerance is? I saw that you talked a little bit about that on your different platforms. Yeah, so frustration tolerance, so if we, if we back up and just talk a little bit about how we define anger, um, I like to think of anger as like a spectrum that includes everything from like mild frustration all the way to like intense rage, right? So in the morning you’re trying to find your car keys and you can’t, you get a little frustrated because your goals are being blocked, you’re being delayed. On the other end of that is the rage you might feel if somebody treats you really, really poorly or, you know, or treats you unfairly or you witness injustice or something like that. Um, so when it comes to, um, uh, frustration tolerance, what we’re dealing with is a person’s capacity to deal with goal blocking. Um, you know, so how good am I at dealing with the fact that, um, I’m unable to accomplish a thing I want to accomplish. And you can think about this is as basic as, you know, um, so I’ve got two kids, um, when one of them was, uh, a baby, um, had like zero frustration tolerance, right?

If you, if you set something out of his reach, uh, he wouldn’t, try and get it, he would just cry, you know? Um, um, and that’s just, just was like, sort of, couldn’t kind of, kind of push through some of that. So we can think about it in terms of, you know, how, how do people react to those kinds of goals being blocked?
We can think about it in terms of, um, like a person’s capacity to just do hard things, you know? Uh, you know, if, if I’m trying to accomplish a task and something’s getting in my way, how tolerant am I of that discomfort? And you can see there are individual differences in this.

And some people are much more tolerant. They anticipate obstacles. They can handle those obstacles. They can push through that. This is the person who says afterwards, you know, I can do hard things. There’s a, and then there’s the other end of that, which is just, I’m gonna quit. I can’t get this done. Um, actually, one of the, one of the ways I like to think about this is in terms of video games.
Um, because as, you know, video games get harder as you play them, right? Um, I mean, that’s the, if we think about, I’m sure there’s a name for this, but if you think about the, the, not, not necessarily like sports games, but just, um, like a, a game where you’re trying to achieve a level. Different levels. Like they get harder as, as you go and, um, and that is, and, and.
There’s a reason for that is because you get better as you play, right? And so it’s trying to like the video games oftentimes are trying to keep you in what that what’s called a flow channel which is If it gets too hard then you throw in the towel because it’s it’s just too hard and you’re feeling frustrated if it’s too easy, then it’s boring and so they always want to sort of push you into that frustration zone of hey, this is hard and then have you experience some success to keep you going.

Um, but that’s actually sort of a challenging thing to do when you acknowledge that people have different frustration tolerances. And so, this is where some kids will continue to sort of persevere through that, even though it’s really hard and they’re experiencing failure over and over and over again, they’ll just keep going and other kids will say, this isn’t fun anymore.
That’s really interesting. I wonder, um, for different people, have you seen that there’s different things that they have different levels of frustration tolerance for? Yeah, absolutely. So it’s going to, in some ways, um, this is going to dovetail with some other things that people are, you know, some other related concepts.

So, self esteem might be a thing. Um, how much you want that outcome. Um, uh, you know, my, my son, uh, quits video games early largely because he’s like, I don’t really care if I’m good at this. You know, my other son cares quite a bit. If you take them out of those experiences though, the, the, the one is a dancer and I mean, he will work and work and work to accomplish that goal because he cares, right? Um, whereas the other one never would for that. So how much you want the thing matters. Um, whether or not, like there are some people who decide early, maybe because of self-esteem or maybe for some other reason they decide early I’m never going to be able to get this and that might be another reason why they give up so there’s different factors personality characteristics that are going to play a role there.

That makes sense. Um, what are some of the top causes for feelings of anger and stress in modern life? Yeah. So, you know, we can, when we think about cause, um, we have to think really broadly about things. Cause I, I tend to think about it from two perspectives. First of all, there are just the, the provocations, right?

The thing that happens to us that we oftentimes identify as the cause and we, and you hear it right. When the way people talk, that made me so mad when they did whatever. Um, and with those, we can kind of lump those into three categories. There’s, um, goal blocking. So like what we’ve been talking about, I’m trying to do something, something’s getting in my way.
There is unfair treatment, either something that we experience or we witness. So, so and so got something I didn’t. Um, and then there’s just what I’d call poor treatment. Um, meaning, um, you know, someone, they’re not treating me unfairly, they’re just being cruel to me, right? They’re just not being very kind.

And those, those tend to be sort of the categories of provocations. Now, if you think about what are some of the, where do we experience those things? Um, I think you can point to a couple of different places where those experiences are pretty common, right? So politics is a biggie. Um, a lot of people will, and you get all of that there, right?
You get the, what people perceive as a lack of justice. You get, um, even the goal blocking piece. I want to live in a society that does acts and I. And I’m not going to because of who was elected. Um, so that’s a big place. Uh, another big place is sports, um, and both, uh, playing sports, but actually probably more so as a fan, right?

Because there’s so much opportunity. for, um, uh, for, uh, unfair or perceptions of unfairness, right? Bad calls, uh, you know, bad decisions. Um, there’s so much, and then that’s also a place where you see a lot of, um, uh, a lot of goal blocking, right? I want my team to win it all. And. things keep interfering in that, uh, in that goal.

Or I just even want them to win this weekend and things keep interfering in that goal. Um, and then of course, the place that everybody thinks of is, uh, the road, right? And road rage. Driving is sort of the perfect situation for leading to anger because you have lots of those types of provocations. You have lots of ways in which your goals are being blocked.
Um, it is, we haven’t really talked about this yet, but all of these things are exacerbated by anxiety and stress. And driving is a stressful activity. We don’t always think about it that way because we do it often enough, but it’s an anxiety provoking activity, and that tends to, um, exacerbate some of those angry feelings.

Yeah. Um, and then finally, you know, when you’re on the road, you’re confronted by a lot of other people who you don’t know very, you don’t know at all. It becomes really easy to make assumptions about them and to have particular types of thoughts about their abilities or who they are or whatever. So there’s not a lot of room for nuance in that situation.
So all of those tend to be places. I keep going social media is another one where um, you know, we’re exposed to a lot of provocations on social media. We come across people with different political views than us. We come across stories of unfair treatment. We come across a lot of um, a lot of opportunity to, to feel anger in those places too.

And with anger specifically, is that typically, would you categorize that as a feeling of injustice versus Sadness is, like, how do those two differ a little bit? Yeah, good question. Um, so, one of the first things I’d say about this is, um, all, all these emotions really connect to one another. We, we very rarely feel things in a vacuum, right?

So we can be sad and angry at the same time. We can be sad and scared at the same time. Um, if I was to identify sort of the primary difference between anger and sadness, I would say sadness typically is the first more associated simply with loss. Um, I had a thing and, or, or I thought I was going to have a thing and that thing is gone now.

Uh, so it could be loss of a job. It could be loss of a relationship. It could be loss of a loved one. Um, you know, I, I had a thing and that thing is gone. Um, there’s also sort of some anticipatory sadness. Meaning, I thought I was going to get this job. now it’s gone, or I always wanted to be a parent and now I’m not going to be able to, or, uh, things like that.

So those are all ways that that loss kind of, uh, emerges. Now anger is also associated with loss, but the loss is different to your point that the loss is about it’s a, it’s includes a sense of it’s unfair that I don’t have this thing, um, or it’s, uh, unreasonable that I don’t have this thing, or I don’t, I don’t have this thing because of poor treatment.

Someone took it from me. That’s a, it’s still loss, but it’s a different, I didn’t. kind of loss, um, where the perception is, um, the perception leads to, uh, feelings of anger instead.
Okay. Yeah. That makes sense. They’re, they’re close, but they’re different. Um, are there common conditions that create the perfect storm for feeling angry?

Yeah. You know, I would, oftentimes when I talk about this, I think of driving in particular, because when we think about like truly why people get angry, um, There’s really three related elements. There’s that provocation. Um, there’s our mood at the time of that provocation. And, um, so are we hungry? Are we, are we tired? Are we stressed? Are we anxious? Um, are we physically uncomfortable? You know, all of those things. Um, you think about, you know, if you’re on an airplane and you’re sitting at the thing and they say, Hey, there’s going to be like a three-hour delay. We’re not going to let you off the plane. That’s worse than if you’re inside the airport and they give you that same information.

Everyone’s had that feeling before. Yeah, and that is, honestly, a big part of that is just being physically uncomfortable. Like, now the situation is made worse. So, same provocation in some ways, but the discomfort of that situation makes the emotional response worse. So, there’s those two things, provocation, our mood at the time, and then there’s our appraisal or our interpretation.
And That’s how we, like how we think about that provocation, what it means to us. And if we think of that provocation as, um, uh, you know, if we interpret it as like, Hey, this is negative and it, and it shouldn’t have happened and it’s so and so’s fault. We kind of put, label it all those ways. And then on top of that, we say, and I can’t cope with it. That’s the other piece, what we call catastrophizing. Like, this is going to ruin my day, my week, my month, my year, my life, my career, whatever. If we, if we label it in all those ways, well, then it feels that much worse. Um, you know, I’ve been in a, we’ve all been in situations, I’m sure, where a bad, unfair thing has happened, but it didn’t have much of an impact on us.

And so we didn’t necessarily, I mean, we’re upset, but we’re but , we don’t get as angry as if we say, well, no, this bad thing happened and it’s ruining my life, that’s different. So. That’s sort of what I consider sort of the perfect storm. There are situations that tend to bring those things out more than others.
And driving is one of those. Um, I think politics for a lot of people can be one of those. Um, and I think sports can be one of those. Where, um, you know, which is funny because that shouldn’t have much of an impact on us. We, we decide it does, but it shouldn’t. You know, I mean, ultimately my life doesn’t change very much if the Bucks win or lose, um, but I, but, but people decide it does, uh, in significant ways.

Yeah. I think that will resonate with a lot of people. Yeah. Have you seen the causes change over the last 15 years with the introduction of additional technology and screen time? Yeah, I think the way, uh, technology and screen time and social media have really shifted emotions in general and anger specifically is like the, the core of that model I just described is the same.
But there are some things that have, like, technology has changed each of those different elements a little bit. So, um, One, what I said before, we just, we experience more provocations than we used to. We come across things, right? We see videos of things. We, we come across people whose opinions are different than ours.

And, um, so that has shifted. We also, um, have, uh, what we, what we see is that the screen time has tended to make human beings just a little more impulsive. Um, so there’s this wild study from, I don’t know, probably five or six years ago. Where it’s, it was like an observation study. The researcher just went to fast food restaurants and watch people interact.
And what they found is that, um, parents who were on a device had a shorter fuse with their kids. And so if parents were looking at, so this is the opposite of what people often talk about, right? Which is kids being on screens. These are parents being on screens. And what they found is that those parents would be really, uh, impatient.

With their kids, um, oftentimes snapping at them, um, uh, in one instance, giving them a little kick under the table, um, you know, things like that. And so what we, um, so what you’re seeing there is that technology is actually influencing, like being on a screen is, is part of that sort of mood at the time of the provocation.

The third piece is, I think that, um, The social media algorithms have meant that our appraisal of situations changes because we all kind of live in a little bit of a social media bubble. So we’re actually encountering, uh, this is particularly true around politics and sports, we’re dealing with people who, um, uh, We’re so used to interacting with people who agree with us that when we encounter people who don’t or when we see results of an election we were not expecting or whatever, we’re more likely, um, to get angry or be surprised.

We interpret it in a different way than we would have, say, 15 years ago, where I think we, um, had just different levels of exposure there. Yeah, it’s a lot to think about. Yeah, yeah. Um, now that you’ve painted a picture of these emotions, how might we recognize these feelings when they’re bubbling up in ourselves?

Yeah, I think, you know, it requires a great deal of personal insight, um, to really pay attention not just to how we’re feeling, but why we’re feeling it. So to think about. Like to, to first of all, pay attention to our physiology. I mean, that’s oftentimes a pretty good marker for us is we realize our heart rate is increased.

We realize we’re sweating or we’re feeling this kind of butterflies in our stomach or whatever. So pay attention to that. Um, and then as we’re paying attention to that, start doing the work of unpacking where that’s coming from and why. And so, um, If you find yourself feeling, uh, anxious or feeling angry about something to actually kind of dive in to ask yourself, what does that tell me about myself?
What does that tell me, uh, about the world around me or my situation? And I think that’s really important because we shouldn’t assume, um, this is a really unpopular opinion, but we shouldn’t assume that our emotions are correct, you know, that we shouldn’t assume there people don’t love hearing this. Shouldn’t assume that they’re valid. We can be angry and be wrong to be angry. We can be scared even when there’s no threat. And so we should acknowledge that and do the work of unpacking our feelings and where they’re coming from and whether or not, what they’re trying to tell us. It might be an unpopular opinion, but I think it gets to the root of doing the work.

Yes. Because you also have to live in your own skin and those feelings and if you If you’re feeling that way the majority of the time, that’s a pretty uncomfortable place to be. Yeah, and I think what I try and explain to people is it’s, I’m not saying emotions, I mean, our emotions are real and we’re feeling them.

And so it’s not a question of, um, you know, if I’m angry. Should I just ignore that? It, it’s a real feeling and we should unpack it and pay attention to it and listen to it. But, but I think that we should be also part of that process should be asking yourself if it’s justified. Am I correct to be, angry right now. Um, was I really wronged? Was I really provoked? Were my goals really blocked? Or do I misunderstand? Or am I maybe approaching this from too much of an ego perspective? Or, um, like I mean, I think all of that is worth exploring. I mean, that’s part of being sort of a good healthy person is to pay attention to that stuff and ask ourselves those tough questions.

And it sounds like there might be a bit of a gray area there, too. It’s not always you were right or you were wrong. There’s a little uncertainty sometimes in figuring that out. Yeah. You know, one of the, this is true of all emotions, but it’s especially true of anger. Emotions are social. We experience them a lot of times in the context of a relationship or an interaction with another person.

And so if I’m angry, it’s usually because me and another person, it’s, it’s this interaction that’s brought that out of me that’s really. I mean, human interactions are really complicated and so unpacking and exploring not just what I’m feeling, but how it connects to what they’re feeling and, and trying to, to better understand that.

So that really leads into, um, what are some healthy ways to deal with these emotions when we’re feeling them ourselves or when we’re dealing with other people who are expressing that to us? Yeah, so, um, that’s a, a really big, broad question. And so when I, when I think about anger in particular, um, I start from the perspective that, so if we think about this model and I said, you know, there’s three, there’s three elements that lead into it.

There’s the, the provocation, there’s our mood at the time, and then there’s our thoughts. And then there’s the feeling itself after that. And then after that is what we do with that feeling, how we actually act. Once I grant that premise, I can actually intervene in any of those five different five different areas, right?

So I can, I can pay attention to what provocations I’m inviting into my life. You know, am I spending too much time on social media? Am I spending too much time in the car? Am I, am I watching the news too much? Am I watching too much sports, right? I can, I can ask myself, do I want to invite those things into my life?

The same way we do all the time with fear. Right. I mean, you know, I don’t know if you’re a horror movie fan, but, um, like chances are, you know, like lots of people who are, who are listening right now have decided, yeah, I don’t like scary movies. Well, they’re choosing not to invite that kind of provocation into their life, that kind of stimulus into their life.
We can take care of ourselves so that we’re dealing with our mood at the time, so that we’re staying well fed, so that we’re staying physically healthy, we’re trying to manage our stress. That’s one way. It’s another way of dealing with our, our anger. Um, we can pay attention to the thoughts we’re having in a given moment.

That’s that work of unpacking. Why we’re feeling this way. Um, we can try it. The goal isn’t to lie to ourselves. I think we just want to have a realistic understanding of what’s happening. And so if I get stopped on a stoplight on my way to work today, uh, and I have, I’m running late and so I have a little bit of a meltdown in the car.

I should ask myself, what is the cost of this delay? Like, how long is it actually? Is it going to ruin my day? Is it going to ruin my week? I Chances are it was two minutes, right? And so how bad is this? Um, When I’m angry, I can do the work of, um, you know, deep breathing, of grounding myself, of trying to maybe take a moment to just meditate for a quick sec, to try and decrease those feelings.
And then I can also decide how I handle it. Do I problem solve? Do I channel it into, um, uh, particular types of, um, particular types of work, uh, and, and so on. So all of those are things that I can do. I didn’t answer the part about others. Um, so, um, yeah. So what about dealing with other people? It’s, it’s kind of the same thing.

Like if, if I’m interacting with someone and they’re really emotional, I can actually think about their anger in terms of those five things. And to the degree that it makes sense in a given situation, I can help them navigate that. So, you know, it, it, it’s. It’s probably not a great idea for me to tell someone like, Hey, you just need a snack.

But, but, but, you know, I can, it might be the case. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Um, But I can, you know, think about things like if, you know, how are they thinking about a particular event and maybe I can help offer them some other ways of thinking about it. Um, nobody wants to be told to relax or to take a couple deep breaths in a given moment.

They don’t want to hear that. But, um, just by me, speaking a little more slowly and by me starting to like, kind of, uh, take deep breaths and things like that, they might start to deescalate that way. Um, I can encourage them to channel that emotion into, into things so I can think about managing their anger, their emotions in that same sort of way by paying attention to those five things.
I like that. I mean, there’s a lot of different ways you can decide how you want to handle it, it sounds like, and, um, do you typically see people, like, finding one area and then building on that, if they’re trying to manage those areas, or, um, Like, how does that usually go? Yeah, I think people oftentimes have some things that they like to do that they tend to fall back on, right?

That’s sort of their go to. Um, and, you know, that they’re comfortable with. And, and I appreciate that. I think that makes sense. Um, what I usually encourage people to do is to just have, I mean, think about emotion management as a toolbox and have a lot of different tools that you can use in different situations.

Now, are there some tools that you might like to rely on because they work well for you? If so, great, but then also acknowledge that they might not be the appropriate tool sometime and it might be better to use something else. And I think if we, if we think about it in terms of that, um, that’s a good sort of healthy way to, uh, to manage emotions.

I’ll give you an example. So I’m someone who in times of stress, I really like to build things. Um, and I don’t mean like actual physical things, but I like to like create stuff I wish existed. So, you know, maybe in terms of my job here, it might be like, Hey, let’s build a speaker series, right. Or let’s, let’s build, let’s try and, um, kind of, uh, create like a center for student success or something like that, things that, that might be helpful or a conference or things like that, that might, that, that we feel like we’re missing on campus.

And that, that’s been great for me, like I, it always makes me feel good to try and build things and to engage people in that way. But those things then add stress too. And so if you fall back on that too often, then you just end up adding stress, not just to you, but to other people. And so being thoughtful about that stuff.

Is really important being thoughtful about, okay, so what’s the long imprint and long term impact there? Um, and should we try and shift and do things differently? It is so specific to the person too. Yep. So just to kind of wrap things up, um, what is your hope for people working on being more resilient?

Yeah, that’s a great question. And so, you know, one of my concerns right now when it comes to emotions I see a lot of people, um, being so uncomfortable with emotions that they want to, they want to avoid them. And now I know that I just said recently, we can choose to opt out of particular things. And I think that makes sense sometimes.

I do think I, I tend to liken emotions in some ways or emotional experiences in some ways to physical exercise, you know? And so, um, so I’m a runner. I love it. It’s one of my, um, one of the pastimes that helps me kind of cope with everything. Um, and I know as a runner that when you push yourself into places that are, um, physically uncomfortable but not harmful, like that that window is where some of the change happens, right? And so it’s like I’ve pushed myself into a place of, um, like this is difficult for me and it makes my body hurt a little bit in, in particular ways, but it’s not hurting so much that I’m actually doing damage. Um, that’s a, that’s where the change happens.

And I think the same thing is true with emotions is that if we push ourselves into a place where we are uncomfortable. But not doing damage, meaning not traumatizing ourself, or not so uncomfortable that it’s scary, or, or, or, I mean, it is scary, but not so uncomfortable that it’s harmful. I think that’s where we start to get used to and start to learn to cope with negative feeling things.
And so, what I oftentimes tell people is, uh, I mean, this is, I mean, this is how people get over something as simple as like a, a spider phobia, right? It is. It’s the avoidance of the spider that means that the fear never goes away. If you, um, expose yourself to the thing that you’re scared of, the thing you’re angry with, or the things that make you angry, if you expose yourself to those things in small doses and start to work your way up, you learn to deal with that discomfort and to have that change happen.

I like that, and it brings me back to the thought of we can do hard things, right, that you said earlier. Exactly. Exactly. Well, Ryan, thanks so much for being here with me today. I think this is going to be really refreshing to hear for a lot of people and validating. Yeah, well, good. I’m glad. And thank you so much for having me. It’s been great talking to you.
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WebMD Health Coaching connects you with a real person who cares about your well being. Aside from supporting you with goals related to nutrition, sleep, physical activity, and stress, we also offer specialty coaching that is more tailored to your individual needs than ever before. Learn about coaching by calling 1-800 821-6591. You’ll get connected with programs that will be most impactful for you. Here’s what a fellow Well Wisconsin coaching participant said about their experience. I like the health coaching calls because number one, it helps me identify some goals to achieve my objective. And two, knowing that I’m going to get a call back at a certain date in the future helps me stick to trying to keep those goals.

Our emotions can quickly get the best of us, especially if we do not have an awareness or understanding of them. In this episode, we sat down with the Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences at UW Green Bay, Ryan Martin, Ph.D. Martin tells us about different emotions such as anger and sadness, modern stressors that can create the ‘perfect storm’, and tools you can use to become more resilient when provoked.

Book: Why We Get Mad: How to Use Your Anger for Positive Change
Book: How to Deal with Angry People: 10 Strategies for Facing Anger at Home, at Work and in the Street
Article: Feeding in the Digital Age: An Observational Analysis of Mobile Device Use during Family Meals at Fast Food Restaurants in Italy

The information in this podcast does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. It should not be used as a substitute for health care from a licensed healthcare professional. Consult with your healthcare provider for individualized treatment or before beginning any new program.