Why Is Everyone So Angry? Covid-19 Revisited
by Dr. Raymond B. Flannery Jr. on
Read or watch any news source and there find daily examples of angry people. Reports of shootings, petty thefts, property damage, domestic violence, road rage, assaults on store employees and flight attendants, and abused children. Many citizens appear to be taking out their anger on others. What has become of us? Why have so many of us become angry and entitled?
Over the centuries, the world’s great religions have been guided by one basic tenet: Love one another. There is sound medical evidence to support this statement. Caring attachments to other people result in better physical and mental health, a sense of well-being, and a longer lifespan. (1) Being in the company of caring people lowers blood pressure and pulse, enhances the immune system to fight respiratory infections, and circulates our endorphins, the brain chemical that makes us feel good.
There are two basic ways that we encounter others: networks and buffers. Networks are the groupings that we are embedded in by birth (e.g., family, ethnic group, race), by work status, or by community groups that we join. Buffers are individuals who are not in our networks but whom we bring into our networks for specific tasks (e.g., real-estate brokers, tax accountants).
With so many opportunities to develop caring attachments and emotional support, why are so many people currently isolated, withdrawn, entitled, and angry? Since a widespread sense of entitlement and anger began during the Covid-19 pandemic, let us revisit this pandemic to search for possible origins.
Covid-19 Revisited
Besides disease and death, the Covid-19 pandemic brought disruptions to our economic system, our daily lives, and our common social, recreational, and political activities. The virus impacted most all of life as we knew it. In the absence of a vaccine early, governments additionally enacted rules about wearing masks, social distancing, and lockdowns. These various local, national, and international disruptions significantly slowed daily life, and networks and buffers were torn apart or otherwise dismantled.
Citizens look to government for security and safety. Now these two were called into question. Citizen-suffering took many forms. (2) For some, loved ones were dying alone in overwhelmed hospitals. Others suffered financial losses as some jobs were terminated. Still others could work from home. However, essential support-services personnel had no choice but to go to work and face the risk of infection. Stores and restaurants closed or had reduced hours. Business and personal travel ground to a halt. Education at all levels was disrupted. College students were sent home, many public schools closed. Online schooling for academic needs, business meetings, and various social programs were soon implemented, but these alternatives did not seem to have the impact of in-person encounters. Children were further impacted by not learning needed social skills while spending long hours on social media. Whereas every citizen’s life was disrupted, the disadvantaged and people of color were more heavily impacted. Citizens did not feel safe or protected.
As networks and buffers were altered, disrupted, or destroyed, the impact on citizen mental health also grew. (3,4,5) Individuals were themselves in states of anger, anxiety, depression, and/or grief. This was especially true for families that had lost loved ones to the disease. Grief was especially intense and lasting, not only due to loved ones dying alone, without family, but as burial customs and services were also canceled. Self-preservation became the order of the day. Substance use increased to address anxiety, boredom, and sleep-disturbance. Social isolation was widespread. Anger followed.
Why Are We So Angry?
There is not one reason why so many people are angry and entitled. Often there are several ongoing issues in society that may frighten people and make them angry. For example, the United States is undergoing a major cultural shift toward a multiracial-majority society that will take some time to resolve. This by itself causes fear, anger, and anxiety. However Covid-19, with its serious disruptions of networks and buffers, has further compounded the anxieties associated with this shift in many differing forms of anger and anxiety.
Let us begin with the brain. Although we think of Covid-19 as a respiratory virus, it has also been found in brain tissue. Regardless of type or length of exposure, Covid-19 in the brain has been associated with increased risk of cognitive deficits in memory and executive tasks, and with a decline in intelligence quotients. Although there are no related case-studies of anger per se, it is not unreasonable to assume that some persons with cognitive impairment due to the virus may behave in angry encounters.
Every culture has individuals with narcissism (exaggerated sense of self-love) and criminal tendencies (antisocial-personality disorder), and the pandemic-state impacted these individuals as well. Narcissists become angry when networks and buffers with their potential sources of praise are absent or reduced. Criminals change the types of crimes they commit. During Covid-19, when more people were home, there was a decrease in home break-ins and an increase in stolen vehicles unattended for long periods of time in public garages.
There is a human process known as the optimal-stimulation level (OSL). It is the amount of information the mind processes from the 5 basic senses. The brain receives information and decides how to respond. Too little stimulation from the senses is experienced as boredom; too much sensory information and the brain feels overwhelmed. Individuals feeling that there is too much change from old, familiar routines can easily become overwhelmed, angry, and act “entitled.” Younger people on social media can become similarly overwhelmed, socially isolated, and angry.
People with unresolved grief may remain angry until that grief has been processed. Similarly, as noted above, substance use increases as a method of coping with the anxiety associated with Covid-19. Increased amounts of alcohol and /or other drugs may impair mood states that include continuous feelings of anger.
Finally, every pandemic has created scapegoats, innocent persons who are the recipients of anger and fear unjustly. Covid-19 has been no exception in this regard with several national examples of scapegoated-anger, entitlement, and hate. The disruption of networks and buffers results in the loss of the various medical benefits noted above: mental suffering, and a loss of our sense of wellbeing with its important links to others.
What Are We to Do?
Given the range of reasons people have become angry due to this pandemic, there are basic ways to address some of these fears. The more common approaches are 4 in number:
(1) Governments at all levels, and citizens in all groups, ought to work to restore and/or restructure networks and buffers that have fallen apart and that are crucial to recovery.
(2) Society should make efforts to curb substance abuse as a way of coping.
(3) Society also ought to work hard to address the various aspects of impaired mental health.
(4) Governments at all levels should prioritize education of citizens about scapegoating and hate-criminal offenses. Acts of hate have no place in society, especially not in the chaos associated with the Covid-19 pandemic.
References
1. Flannery, R. B. Jr., Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: The Victim’s Guide to Healing and Recovery 2nd edition. Riverdale, NY: American Mental Health Fdn., 2012.
5. DiGuiseppe, R., Tafrate, R. C. Understanding Anger Disorders. New York: Oxford University, 2006.
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Dr. Raymond B. Flannery Jr., Ph.D. FACLP, is an internationally recognized scholar and lecturer on the topics of violence, victimization, and stress management. Dr. Flannery is available for lectures and workshops for all types of groups and may be reached at The American Mental Health Foundation: elomke[at]americanmentalhealthfoundation.org.
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