Anger became a big part of my life after I got very sick from a life-threatening yet long-term illness - that required ultimately an organ transplant. But I had a friend who taught me the finer points of advocacy in a hospital or medical setting. There really are times to go full-throttle anger. But you have to know to whom and what the anger needs to be directed to. It's pretty hopeless to rail at an aide checking your vitals at 2 am, or a housekeeper turning on the lights too early. I had to learn how to pick and choose - and what the right line of succession that anger was directed. Finally, I learned when to stop communicating and just make a very focused report. This stuff is called SURVIVAL. I recommend it to anyone in a hospital setting. You can really get lost in the shuffle, since most of them are understaffed (and no, the really good ones, like Cleveland Clinic, are not understaffed).

In my personal case, I've been angry most of my life, though, started with childhood sexual assault - that I wiped out of my memory in order to keep functioning. That shit is hard to deal with. It's part of PTSD. Even with that, I learned how to make it useful. Anger has tons of energy, so yep, survival.