Anger Management
” If you have a rage in you, you can manifest the energy. You can tame it. You can give it purpose.”
- Angry Anderson
Anger management taught through counselling or psychotherapy is the best way to deal with uncontrolled or chronic anger, which can be very costly, both emotionally and physically. Most people can use their anger in appropriate ways in some situations, and yet be very inappropriate in others. Niel Carey, author of ‘Anger Management- Ten Steps to Freedom’ , says that there are four common misunderstandings about anger:
- Anger & aggression go hand in hand
- It is in the genes
- You have to let your anger out aggressively
- You can’t get what you want without being aggressive
Anger management training teaches you how to be assertive, not aggressive and how to challenge irrational beliefs and negative ‘self talk’.
Over time, anger can become a habit rather than a deliberate response choice. In most situations, this is an inappropriate and costly choice, which may lead to relationship problems, both personally and work related. The effects on health are also numerous, ranging from stress related emotional illness to physical signs such as duodenal ulcers.
To change the anger response, clients learn to firstly identify their ‘triggers’ and the strategies that they have developed to deal with them. Then they learn to control their anger through various techniques and tools. These may include breathing exercises, timeouts, and learning when to walk away. Anger management plans can also be built, over time, with the help of the counsellor.
