'I'm so full of anger,' Serena told me. 'I really feel I need to let it out.'

But letting rip, studies find, makes you more angry and aggressive, not less. It becomes a habit, making it more likely you'll give way to anger next time. From small explosions about big things, people who never control or calm their anger tend to progress to big explosions about little things.

However, the good news is that there isn't a pressure cooker full of anger in your brain, needing to be let out. Things don't work like that. Instead, there are tendencies, stresses, habits and triggers ... and you can succeed in changing these with practice and perseverance. First, however, if anger is a problem for you, you need to realise this. It's not always obvious ...

Exploding with fury can be scary and dangerous. So many people express their anger in hidden roundabout ways, living in a state of masked annoyance and hostility. If this is you, you may well feel YOU never let anger rule you ... yet those around you will see things differently. And they'll be right! Classic hidden anger signs include: