Counselling Services for Anger Management

When anger interferes with your ability to function in life, work, or relationships, you could be considered to have an issue with anger management.

If you hold in your feelings in until they erupt, or if you’re prone to venting all your anger at the drop of a feather, it’s probably time to develop new, healthy ways to manage your emotions.

Anger isn’t only about aggression

When we think of “anger problem”, we tend to picture the typical raging, blow-your-top-off type of person. But anger doesn’t always reveal itself in that manner.

Some people are passive aggressive as a means to try and hide their anger.

This passive-aggressive type of anger might be more subtle, and may appear as:

• Empty promises
• Excuses
• Avoidance
• Sarcasm

With counselling and effort, patterns of outwardly-aggressive and passive-aggressive behaviour can be broken.

During our sessions, you can learn to better understand this emotion, and find healthy ways to control your feelings.

You can’t simply ignore your feelings of anger. The physical effects of unchecked anger can be debilitating.

Someone who has an anger issue may experience:

• Headaches
• Digestive upset
• Sleep disturbance
• Increased blood pressure
• Risk of heart disease

And that’s on top of any personal and professional issues that may arise due to poor anger management.

If you’re working through an anger problem, I strongly suggest that you limit your time on social media. The polarization we often see online can easily trigger angering thoughts or behaviours.

Anger is a secondary emotion

Did you know that anger is considered a “secondary emotion”? Its presence often represents other, more vulnerable emotions, such as:

• Fear
• Rejection
• Humiliation
• Shame

Anger may also be present as a survival mechanism. Aggressive or passive-aggressive behaviour may be an indication that something is wrong that needs to be addressed.

Counselling can help you to understand the reasons behind your anger, so you can get a handle on these unwanted emotions.

The specifics of anger management counselling varies from person to person. During your time in counselling we may cover a variety of different topics.

Some of the areas we may work on during counselling:

• Assertiveness training
• Emotion regulation
• Conflict management
• Anxiety and depression
• Distress tolerance
• Mindfulness
• Thought management or thinking distortions
• Core beliefs about how things “should” be
• Communication skills
• Family history of expressing anger

Getting a handle on anger

I have worked with many people who said they had an “anger problem.”

Some were told by their employers to go through an anger management program. Others were told by their partner they need to get a handle on their anger.

Regardless of the circumstances that bring you to anger counselling, Tanglewood can help you to get your emotions under control.

By understanding the purpose of your anger, you can learn the skills needed to express yourself in a healthier way. Book a free phone call to get started today.