Anger Management Support Group

I was wondering if we are all Type A personality? What do you think? I found this article on the web about Type A personality.

Type A

Time Urgency:

Impatient, hurries, under pressure, prompt and often early for appointments, watches clock, walk/talk/eat rapidly, does multiple activities simultaneously, lives in the future/always planning, feel that 'there's never enough time'.

Hates delays:

Irritable, restless with other's pace, high impatience at having to wait for someone, rage at having to wait in line, detests waisting time, drives over the speed limit, evades red lights, is 'hard on equipment,' always underestimates the time a job will take.

Hostility

Competitive, 'must win,' reluctant to share power/control/delegate, takes on more and more work, pursue more challenging tasks, makes bets, finds competitive aspect of all activities, plays hard as works, detests losing, plays to win even against children/friends, sets higher goals for self, challenging, concerned with getting and having rather than being, hard driving

Aggressive, ambitious, gets higher grades/income, measures everything in numbers/dollars, attributes success to own speed, Dominates conversations, emphasizes words in speech, finishes other's speeches, interrupts speakers, dislikes small talk, Continual emergency reaction.

Self-destructive tendancies:

over-working

gorging on high-fat foods

overuse of stimulants

low levels of exercise

high alcohol intake

smoking

no time for self care

works during vacations

over-plan vacation's activities

works in bed

inability to relax/be unproductive

fails to notice beauty/scenery/'smell the flowers'

overschedule themselves

overcommitted

guilt over relaxing

always works more than eight hours a day

sits on edge of chairs

make fists

clench jaws

taps fingers

jiggles legs

rapid blinks

never still

Cognitive:

Constant struggle for control/avoiding helplessness inihibited need for power perfectionistic demand continuous self-improvement demand excellence in every area always seeking to improve efficiency underestimate own achievements more disappointment and self-doubt

Affective:

negative cynical critical ruthless in self-reproach self-examining

'Workaholic'

recreation only with friends from work better communication at work than at home organized hobbies work as a substitute for intimate contacts reading is all work related work late more than peers do when awakened thoughts go to work live by deadlines and quotas creates unnecessary deadlines

April, Yes, definitely a Type A but a recovering Type A. Interesting, because I just did a gratitude list to lift my spirits and then I came here and read this list and was able to see that I have made ALOT of progress because many of these don't fit me anymore. (I've been at recovery and personal growth for 25 years.) Thank you so much for posting this cuz I really needed to see this today.

You are so welcome. I hope you had a better day today. You are so caring and so supportive of this group. Thank you for all you do!

Just for you!

A simple division of preference or personality type is into Type A and Type B, which is based broadly on anxiety and stress levels.

Type A

The Type A personality generally lives at a higher stress level. This is driven by

They enjoy achievement of goals, with greater enjoyment in achieving of more difficult goals. They are thus constantly working hard to achieve these.

They find it difficult to stop, even when they have achieved goals.

They feel the pressure of time, constantly working flat out.

They are highly competitive and will, if necessary create competition.

They hate failure and will work hard to avoid it.

They are generally pretty fit and often well-educated (a result of their anxiety).

Type B

The Type B personality generally lives at a lower stress level and are typically:

They work steadily, enjoying achievements but not becoming stressed when they are not achieved.

When faced with competition, they do not mind losing and either enjoy the game or back down.

They may be creative and enjoy exploring ideas and concepts.

They are often reflective, thinking about the outer and inner worlds.

Discussion

This typing was first described in relation heart disease in the 1950s by cardiologists Meyer Friedman, R. H. Rosenham. It subsequently appeared in the Jenkins Activity Survey, which was originated to detect behaviors which lead to heart attacks (Jenkins, Ayzanski, Rosenman, 1971).

Dr. Redford Williams, a cardiologist at Duke University, later showed that the main hazard in this is when the Type A person has a tendency to anger and hostility

A subsequent study has challenged even this, throwing the whole validity of this typing as a predictor of heart attacks into doubt.

Nevertheless, it is a simple typing difference and perhaps aligns with the Big Five factor of 'neuroticism', or tendency to anxiety.

In the Jungian Type Inventory, Type A looks more left-side STJ whilst Type B might be more right-side NFP.

So what?

In use, you might notice your own tendencies towards anxiety and stress which, whilst not necessarily leading to heart attacks, can still lead to many stress-related disorders.

In persuading others the tendency towards A or B will affect your strategy. Whilst challenging a Type A would likely be very effective, it would not with Type B (where a more reflective conversation could be a better approach).

See also

Jungian Type Inventory, Big Five factors

Friedman, M. (1996). Type A Behavior: Its Diagnosis and Treatment. New York: Plenum Press (Kluwer Academic Press)

Jenkins, C.D., Zyzanski, S.J., & Rosenman, R.H. (1971). Progress toward validation of computer-scored test for the type A coronary-prone behavior pattern. Psychosomatic Medicine, 33, 193-202

April, I think the Type B's are the smart ones. In college I was always leader of group projects and wanting to get an A. So I decided to not do this all the time. One time it resulted in a D for the group but the instructor raised my grade cuz I explained that it was an experiment for me that turned out badly. Just didn't pick the right group. I suppose Type B's have more practice at picking Type A groups, LOL. The next time I picked the right group and I really played up being helpless on top of it and my fellow group members did the whole project and just took me along for the ride. They told me not to worry about it and they did everything! We got a B and I was okay with that. The world didn't fall apart without me in charge.

I am totally type A personality.

Me too, Ginky.

Type A with all its postives and negatives. Carl Jung has many intersting perspective he contributed to psychology. I like all his dream stuff and theorys of the unconscious mind. Interesting stuff.

I looked this up on the about.com & found this (sorry, I had to chuckle)

time urgency & impatience

free floating hostility and aggressiveness shows up as impatience, rudeness, being easily upset over small things, or ‘having a short fuse’, strong achievement, competitive --

Physical traits:

facial tension (check, wrinkles to prove it)

clenched jaw (ouch, clenching now)

dark circles under the eyes (no makeup could cover these babies)

facial sweating (depends on the situation)

Sound familiar to anyone?

Some of the negative effects for type A's were -

High Blood pressure, heart disease, Job stress and Social Isolation??? Hmm.... all to familiar! Apparently we spend more time on work than relationships? So, screw the work- let's socialize, right? Lol!

I would need a crow bar to release this jaw and as far as social isolation..it's all me. Damn it! I knew I was doing something wrong!

I am going to start a NEW discussion for our type A Quiz! This should be fun!