Anger Management
Anger management involves learning to recognize and control anger. These techniques help prevent outbursts that can harm your health, career, and personal relationships.
Battling addiction & ready for help?
What Is Anger Management?
Anger management is a therapeutic program used to help individuals reduce both the emotional and physical effects anger causes. These techniques are a core component of evidence-based therapies like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). The strategies acknowledge that angry feelings aren’t something you can avoid, but you can learn to control your reactions to them.
During anger management programs, participants learn strategies like deep-breathing exercises or cognitive restructuring to help them calm down or work through their feelings of anger in the moment.
Where Anger Originates From
Anger is a natural human emotion, but when it becomes chronic and explosive, it is often a symptom of a deeper underlying issue. Understanding where problematic anger originates is key to managing it effectively.
Anger in the Brain
When you perceive a threat, your brain’s emotional hub, the amygdala, acts as a rapid-response alarm system. It triggers the release of stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol, preparing your body for “fight or flight.” This happens in an instant.
The prefrontal cortex, the rational, decision-making part of your brain, then comes online to assess the situation. In a well-regulated brain, the prefrontal cortex can calm the amygdala’s alarm if the threat is not real.
In people with chronic anger issues, this “braking system” can be less effective, leading to an overreaction.
Disorders Characterized by Anger
While anger can be a part of many mental health conditions, it is a core diagnostic criterion for several specific disorders:
- Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED): Characterized by recurrent behavioral outbursts representing a failure to control aggressive impulses. These outbursts can be verbal (tantrums, tirades) or physical and are grossly out of proportion to the provocation.
- Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD): Primarily diagnosed in children and adolescents, ODD involves a persistent pattern of angry/irritable mood, argumentative/defiant behavior, and vindictiveness.
- Bipolar Disorder: Intense irritability and anger can be a primary symptom during manic or hypomanic episodes.
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Individuals with PTSD often experience heightened irritability and angry outbursts as a result of their trauma.
Addressing these underlying conditions with a mental health professional is often a crucial part of managing problematic anger.
5 Helpful Anger Management Techniques
Whether anger is a rare issue or negatively affects your life, there are techniques you can use to help manage angry thoughts and prevent them from getting out of control.
1: Relaxation Techniques
Relaxing can feel impossible when you’re in the heat of the moment because anger triggers the body’s “fight or flight” response. This automatic reaction floods your body with adrenaline and stress hormones.
Employing relaxation techniques during these high-stress reactions can help you clear your mind and reduce the physical symptoms of anger, such as elevated heart rate and blood pressure.
Common relaxation techniques used in anger management include:
- Breathe deeply from your diaphragm, counting a few seconds for each inhale and exhale
- Slowly repeat a calm word or phrase out loud or in your head
- Visualize something calming or a relaxing setting
- Try some easy stretches
- Listen to calming music
2: Taking a ‘Timeout’
We often associate “timeout” with children, but adults can also benefit from this concept. For example, taking a break or removing yourself from a stressful situation can make a huge difference.
Find a quiet place away from others to decompress. If you’re arguing with someone and can feel the warning signs that your anger is about to boil over, take a break from the conversation.
Trying to resolve a situation while angry often doesn’t lead to productive results, so don’t hesitate to tell the people around you that you need a timeout.
3: Cognitive Restructuring
Cognitive restructuring is a common tool in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). It simply means changing one’s thoughts. This method uses logic to challenge the more illogical, angry thoughts.
While anger can be a healthy emotion, it can lead to irrational or untrue beliefs. During anger management classes, a healthcare or mental health professional walks you through the situation causing your anger and helps you identify what is true and untrue.
Finally, you replace the angry thought with a more balanced one that reflects what’s actually true about the situation. Luckily, this technique doesn’t require a therapist to work—you can use this process to begin challenging your anger in a healthy, productive way.
4: Use Humor to Defuse
Humor can be a fantastic tool for defusing and controlling anger. However, certain types of humor, like sarcasm or “laughing off” your problems, should be avoided. These types of humor can be interpreted as hurtful and worsen an angry moment.
Instead, opt for silly humor. If a co-worker has angered you and you can’t seem to manage it, imagine or even draw a picture of them in an embarrassing or silly situation. You might also find a way to imagine something that could make the situation silly rather than frustrating.
No matter how silly the idea might be, breaking up anger with laughter can help get your emotions back under control.
5: Problem-Solving
When experiencing uncontrolled anger, you may feel that focusing on anything other than anger is impossible. However, shifting your thoughts to a solution can help lessen the anger, even if it’s a small action.
For example, if a nearby conversation angers you, put on headphones and block them out. If a project isn’t going well and working on it worsens your rage, take a brisk walk outside and blow off some steam.
While you won’t be able to solve every problem like this, shifting your focus to even temporary solutions can make a massive difference in anger management.
Anger Management Classes and Courses
For many, a structured anger management class is a highly effective way to learn practical skills in a supportive environment. These programs are available in various formats to suit different needs.
What to Expect from a Course
Most reputable anger management programs are based on proven therapeutic principles. Participants typically learn to identify their personal triggers, practice relaxation and de-escalation techniques, and develop healthier communication skills.
These courses are skill-based, providing a toolbox of strategies you can use in your daily life.
Finding a Class
- Online Courses: Reputable online platforms offer self-paced anger management classes that provide flexibility. Websites like Udemy or specialized providers like Logan Social Services and AngerCoach offer a range of courses.
- In-Person Classes: Many community centers, hospitals, and therapy practices offer in-person group anger management classes. These can provide the added benefit of peer support and interaction.
Court-Ordered Anger Management
Sometimes, a judge will mandate that an individual complete an anger management program as part of a sentence for offenses like assault, domestic disputes, or road rage. T
hese court-ordered classes are designed to reduce the likelihood of future offenses by teaching emotional regulation and conflict resolution skills. Completion typically requires attending a set number of sessions and receiving a certificate to present to the court.
Specific Therapies That Target Anger
For those whose anger is causing significant impairment in their life, formal therapy is the most effective treatment. Several evidence-based approaches specifically target the thought patterns and behaviors that drive problematic anger.
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): This is the gold standard for anger management. A CBT therapist helps you identify the irrational, anger-fueling thoughts (e.g., “Everyone is always disrespecting me”) and restructure them into more balanced, realistic perspectives.
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): DBT is particularly effective for people who experience intense, overwhelming emotions. It teaches core skills in mindfulness, distress tolerance (how to get through a crisis without making it worse), and emotional regulation.
What Can Anger Management Help With?
Anger management programs can be helpful for people of all backgrounds and situations, as they encourage you to process anger more healthily.
People with certain mental health conditions who are prone to extreme emotions may significantly benefit from anger management techniques.
Anger management helps in a variety of ways.
Mental Health
Anger management classes can improve your mental health by teaching you to regulate your emotions, identify triggers, and develop better coping strategies when you feel frustrated.
These classes can also improve communication skills and promote self-awareness, improving relationships and well-being.
Physical Health
Uncontrolled anger can take a major toll on the physical body, resulting in issues like high blood pressure and elevated heart rate, and serious issues like heart attack or stroke.
Learning to manage your anger will help reduce these physical responses and, over time, improve your overall physical well-being.
Addiction Recovery
During recovery, feelings of anger and despair might arise as people face the impact of their addiction on their lives.
Anger management provides tools to manage these emotions, which in turn reduces the risk of relapse or turning to substances to cope. Additionally, anger management can help recovering addicts recognize emotional triggers, practice self-control, and communicate more effectively.
These skills can improve their overall emotional stability, a vital part of long-term sobriety.
Career issues
Being angry all the time obviously won’t benefit you in the workplace and can lead to isolation or avoidance from colleagues. If anger issues are bad enough at work, you may even get reprimanded and risk losing your job. Not only can anger management help you improve your image and reconnect with colleagues, but it can also teach you better communication overall.
You can also learn to exchange passive-aggressive behaviors for appropriate assertiveness, allowing you to voice your thoughts helpfully before they bubble up into feelings of rage.
Relationship problems
Anger management techniques can help you improve communication with your partner, learning how to express anger or frustration in a productive and healthy way. Remember, anger itself isn’t bad; expressing anger violently or explosively is problematic.
Actionable De-escalation Exercises
When you feel anger rising, having a pre-planned de-escalation strategy is key. The goal is to interrupt the emotional spiral before it becomes an outburst.
- The Box Breathing Technique: Inhale slowly for a count of four, hold your breath for a count of four, exhale slowly for a count of four, and hold for a count of four. Repeat until you feel your heart rate slow down.
- Change Your Environment: If you are in a heated argument, calmly state that you need a 15-minute break and walk away. Go to a different room or step outside. Physically removing yourself from the trigger is a powerful way to de-escalate.
- Engage Your Senses: Shock your system out of its anger loop by focusing on a strong, neutral sensation. Splash cold water on your face, hold an ice cube in your hand, or bite into a lemon. This pulls your brain out of the emotional spiral and back into the present moment.
Why It’s Important to Manage Your Anger
Uncontrolled anger can lead to prolonged stress and damage your overall mental and physical well-being. Research has consistently linked high levels of anger and hostility to severe health problems.
- Heart Disease: A large meta-analysis published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that anger and hostility are associated with a 19% increased risk of developing coronary heart disease.
- Stroke: According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, in the two hours after an angry outburst, a person’s risk for a stroke from a blood clot or bleeding in the brain is three times higher.
- High Blood Pressure: The adrenaline and cortisol released during anger can, over time, cause damage to your blood vessels and contribute to hypertension.
- Weakened Immune System: Chronic anger can weaken your immune response, making you more susceptible to infections.
Support for Victims of Anger and Abuse
It is crucial to recognize that being the target of uncontrolled anger, aggression, or rage can be a form of emotional abuse and can be traumatic for spouses, children, and other family members. Your safety is the number one priority.
If you are in a relationship where someone’s anger makes you feel unsafe, or if it has escalated to physical violence, help is available.
You do not have to endure it alone. For immediate, confidential support, you can contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at any time.
- Call: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
- Text: START to 88788
Support groups like Al-Anon can also provide a safe space for people to share their experiences and learn how to cope with a loved one’s problematic behavior.
Getting Help With Anger Management
Struggling with anger? You don’t have to face it alone. Effective and confidential help is available today. You can connect with a qualified therapist through convenient online therapy or speak to someone immediately by calling the free SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357.
Our Find Treatment Help page has the resources and information you need to take the first step.
FAQs About Anger Management
Why do I get angry so easily?
Depending on your life experience or pre-existing mental health conditions, you may be more easily angered than others.
If you tend to anger easily, you aren’t a bad person, and there is nothing to be ashamed of—you may just need to learn skills to help better manage these emotions.
Is anger a mental illness?
Anger isn’t a mental illness, but it can be connected to mood disorders, substance abuse, and other mental health problems. Anger management programs can help participants control anger and avoid aggressive behavior or long-term health issues.
What are some anger management techniques?
Common anger management techniques include:
- Relaxation like deep breathing or visualization
- Timeout or removing yourself from an angering situation
- Cognitive restructuring by applying logic to irrational anger
- Using humor to diffuse anger
- Problem-solving by focusing more on a solution than the angry emotions
Can anger management issues be genetic?
Yes. Specific genes that increase your likelihood of becoming angry more often can be passed through families.
Does anger management cost money?
Sometimes. There are many free online resources available that teach anger management techniques. However, if anger issues negatively affect your life, you may benefit from anger management therapy with a mental health provider.
Depending on whether or not you have insurance and what services are covered, anger management therapy may cost money.
What kind of tools help with anger management?
Therapy, support groups, apps, and learning anger management techniques are tools you can use to help with your anger management. However, each person may respond more to specific tools than others, so it’s important to experiment and determine what works best for you.
Are anger management classes ever legally required?
Yes, sometimes anger management can be court-ordered for the following crimes:
- Assault
- Battery
- Disturbing the peace
- Domestic abuse or violence
- Rape
Get Treatment Help Now
If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, getting help is just a phone call away, or consider trying therapy online with BetterHelp.
Exclusive offer: 20% Off BetterHelp*Following links to the BetterHelp website may earn us a commission that helps us manage and maintain AddictionHelp.com
*Get 20% off your first month of BetterHelp.
- Fact-Checked
- Editor
