Anger Management

What Is Anger Management?

Anger management is a therapeutic program used to help individuals reduce both the emotional and physical effects anger causes.

The strategies of anger management classes acknowledge that angry feelings aren’t something you can avoid, but you can learn to control your reactions to anger.

During anger management programs, participants learn strategies like deep-breathing exercises or physical activity to help them calm down or work through their feelings of anger in the moment.

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.

These methods help you prevent angry outbursts and promote healthy emotions and responses to stressful situations.

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 production 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 have the potential to 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 anger, 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 huge difference in anger management.

Why It’s Important to Manage Your Anger

Not only can anger problems lead to prolonged stress and damage your overall mental well-being, but anger can also damage your relationships.

In addition, extreme uncontrolled anger can lead to violent altercations, physical harm, and even death.

Research has linked anger issues to the following health issues:

• Coronary heart diseases
• Diabetes
• Skin problems
• High blood pressure
• Heart attack
• Stroke

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.

In addition, people with certain mental health conditions prone to extreme emotion may significantly benefit from anger management techniques.

Anger management can help with the following:

• 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 things frustrate you. 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 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.

Getting Help With Anger Management

If you or a family member struggles with anger, anger management can help you control it and avoid negative consequences.

Finding a therapist or mental health professional is a great way to start managing your anger through individual or group therapy.

Visit our treatment page to start getting your anger under control.