Now I have developed the habit of being very mindful of any form of rapidly escalating aggravation, including irritability (which can be constant, & not rising at all). Yes, i have majorly "lost it" in front of people in the last few years, which i almost never did before (except the odd temper tantrum as a kid). So when it all reached a "head" early this year, i realized that i have a very major problem with anger/rage, and so i need to be tending to that a LOT more than i were doing up to that point. So now i haven't had a "rage attack" for several months now they were getting pretty violent - smashing objects, confronting people, saying some very very dodgy/threatening stuff).
So i have finally after all these years accepted that i have got (& have always had really) some pretty major anger/rage issues. And i guess it has sunken into my subconscious now, and i think in the back of my mind there's always something now that warns me when i feel about to start entering "the danger zone", which i act upon immediately. I used to ignore all of these things/signs (& got lost in the emotion), and was too inflexible & set-in-my-ways to change my course of action if needed.
But i think the key point in overcoming this, would start with trying practise becoming aware of the very first signs of irritabilty/aggression/anger/rage, and acting on it THEN - NO LATER (if possible), as often is the case that "later" is TOO LATE!!!