Anger, Hostility, and Disease

Anger is a universally recognized emotion that can generate high levels of sympathetic arousal and may be adaptive but may also have negative health consequences, particularly if it is not expressed constructively. A link between anger and bodily response has been recognized since at least the time of Hippocrates, and in modern times, Franz Alexander suggested in 1939 that hypertension and heart disease were linked to repressed anger, a proposition that has found some support in recent research. The possibility that anger or suppression of anger could be related to cancer incidence or severity has also been a focus of study since at least 1946 and has found some support in current research, although other studies have found no association.