It takes a certain amount of hostility to move through the world." "The other people are ignorant and inept." "He's going to regret what he's done." "Giving and receiving love is a sign of weakness." "If I don't take care of things, nobody does." "Once things are said is enough." This style of thinking characterizes a personality profile called type A.
The American cardiologists Meyer Friedman and Raymond Rosenman differentiated four personality patterns in the fifties (A, B, C, and D) based on how people reacted to different situations. Each person has a combination of traits even if a certain tendency predominates. The type B personality characterizes relaxed, cheerful, patient, carefree, uncompetitive and conformist people. The type C personality defines systematic, thoughtful, sensitive and prudent people. Type D personality describes embarrassed, negative, pessimistic, and socially inhibited people who avoid sharing negative emotions. Both type A behavior pattern and type D personality are considered cardiovascular risk factors because a greater tendency to stress predominates, which has an impact on health.
. His thinking tends to rigidity. They are almost never satisfied. They may have interpersonal conflicts by not taking care of deep relationships and lacking close friends. On a physiological level, they are exposed to a state of physical and mental hyperalertness that makes them ignore the needs of the body and underestimate rest. This state affects your nervous system, causing heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension, cholesterol levels and triglycerides to rise.
A high percentage of people who suffer a heart attack identify with type A personality. Many patients try to soften these personality traits to decrease the risk. It is essential to achieve an adequate attitude because, as Seneca said, "the desire to heal is half of our health and the power of the mind must be taken into account to achieve it". The work consists of providing appropriate techniques or guidelines of behavior to learn to distinguish between priority and secondary; differentiate what is and what is not under our control; set realistic goals and manage time appropriately; learn to verbalize positive and negative emotions; Include the practice of relaxation or meditation in the day to day and practice gratitude.
But what is most difficult for patients with type A personality is managing anger and aggression. Aristotle said that "everyone can get angry, that is something very simple. But to get angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose and in the right way, that's certainly not so easy." The aggressiveness appears after an irrational thought like those at the beginning of the article or if it is endured a lot until it explodes like a pressure cooker. There are several books that help you manage anger better. From the classics On Anger or The Art of Staying Calm: A Manual of Classical Wisdom on Anger Management, by Seneca, to the most recent ones such as Control Your Anger Before It Controls You, by psychologist Albert Ellis.
The goal would be to learn not to wait so long and say things at all times but in the right way. This requires being aware of the situations that cause anger to boil over. Sometimes it is convenient to tell the other person that you are starting to get nervous and that you are going to walk around until you calm down. Other times it is better to use some excuse (go to the bathroom for a moment or say you have to leave). During the interval that lasts the "time out" it is advisable to carry out some activity that helps reduce anger. Use calming phrases formulated in a positive way, that is, affirmations about what you want to achieve: "I will be calm." Some exercises help to distract yourself: counting from 100 to zero from seven to seven... Focusing attention on an object in the room or, if one is on the street, in a shop window also works. In the same way, it would be necessary a deep reflection of the irrational beliefs that have to do with the challenge, success, ambition, the way in which he evaluates others and himself, which are conditioning the strengthening of this pattern of type A behavior.
This is defended in their book Heart and Mind by Luis Rojas Marcos and Valentín Fuster, who reaffirm the importance of reviewing the priorities of life. If health and quality of life mattered more, anger management would be done more easily.
Patricia Fernández Martín is a clinical psychologist at the Ramón y Cajal Hospital.