Anger Management

ANGER MANAGEMENT

Anger is a normal, often healthy, human emotion. It alerts us to situations in which we believe we are being blocked from an important goal. Anger can help us focus our awareness and organize our resources to solve a problem. When anger is uncontrolled it can become disruptive in terms of work, personal relationships, health and in your overall quality of life. You could be angry at a specific person (e.g. a coworker or spouse) or an event (e.g. being late for work). Anger can also be caused by being preoccupied by, and worried about, personal problems or memories of situations where you feel you have been wronged or slighted.

Work on anger management involves addressing three core aspects, namely relaxation training , cognitive change and work on relationships. Relaxation allows you to gain control of the fight or flight response that prepares us to survive when threatened (useful when fighting in the wild, not very useful during a holiday with the family!). Cognitive reframing allows us to discover and change the thinking habits we have that are exaggerated and resulting in more anger than a situation deserves. Finally, controlling our anger involves understanding the important relationships in our lives, what we love about them, what frustrates us, and how we can communicate more easily so as to feel more fulfilled and express frustration in a manner that builds rather than tears down emotional bonds.