Therapy for Anger Management: Does It Really Work?

Anger is a normal emotional reaction to situations that cause you to feel threatened or harmed, and that trigger your brain’s fight-or-flight response. Stress hormones flood your body, sending more blood to your muscles and sharpening your focus to prepare you to defend yourself or move away from the source of danger. This type of anger is a useful, instinctive, survival response that enables you to protect yourself.

Anger, however, is not always in response to a physical threat. It can also be a response to emotional pain, frustration, or a perceived injustice. You can, for instance, get angry when your needs are not met, you feel treated unfairly, someone says or does something that upsets you, or you have a disagreement with a friend.

This type of anger can range anywhere from slight irritation to full-blown rage, and be accompanied by physical and biological symptoms such as rapid heartbeat, rise in blood pressure, fast breathing, and an increase in the production of stress hormones such as adrenaline.

There are both internal and external causes of anger. You could be angry at a specific person or situation, or be triggered by a traumatic or anger-provoking memory. If you are angry more often than you are not, you may have chronic anger, which has been linked to health problems such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and digestive issues.

In addition to taking a toll on your health, uncontrolled anger can lead to problems at work and in your relationships and have a damaging impact on the overall quality of your life.

Red Flags That You May Need Therapy for Anger Management

• You feel angry most of the time.
• You have trouble taking things in stride.
• You have a low tolerance for frustration.
• There are places where you are no longer welcome.
• Friends or family members have distanced themselves from you.
• People have told you they think you have an anger problem.
• There is friction between you and your coworkers.
• You tend to carry grudges and think about getting revenge.
• You have exhibited aggressive behavior when angry, such as breaking things, making threats, or becoming violent.

What Therapy for Anger Management Is and Its Effectiveness

Anger Management Therapy is a type of talk therapy designed to help you recognize what anger feels like, identify the things that trigger those feelings, and change your reaction to them so that you can manage your anger more effectively. Studies indicate that its success rate is high, with up to 75% of participants experiencing a reduction in aggressive behaviors and outbursts of anger.

Most Popular Therapies for Anger Management

The following are some of the most widely used forms of therapy for anger management. All of them are evidence-based. Cognitive behavior therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, and stress inoculation therapy are all cognitive therapies that target the physical and emotional elements of anger as well as the thought processes that drive it.

Psychodynamic therapy focuses on self-reflection and identifying, understanding, and overcoming subconscious motivations and repressed emotions at the roots of your anger.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Cognitive behavioral therapy is a structured form of talk therapy that focuses on how your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors affect each other.

It helps you identify and change negative thought patterns that trigger angry feelings; replace inaccurate beliefs with more balanced, rational ones that help you gain perspective and reduce impulsive reactions; learn practical coping techniques that can prevent your anger from escalating; and find more constructive ways of managing and expressing your anger.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Dialectical behavior therapy is an adapted form of cognitive behavioral therapy that was originally developed for people suffering from intense mood swings, trouble managing their impulses, strained relationships, and an inability to tolerate uncomfortable emotions without resorting to harmful or destructive behaviors.

Its focus is on helping you understand and manage your anger; equipping you with emotional regulation and distress tolerance techniques to prevent angry outbursts; and teaching you interpersonal skills such as mindfulness and improved ways of communicating and resolving conflicts, to enable you to handle social challenges more effectively.

Stress Inoculation therapy (SIT) Stress inoculation therapy for anger management is a specific form of CBT that acts like a vaccine to help you prepare in advance to handle triggering events before they have a chance to escalate.

It gradually exposes you to imaginary situations that would normally cause you to feel angry, teaches you how to handle your reactions, and has you rehearse an internal dialogue to walk yourself through the way you would deal with it in a real-life scenario, using one of the coping methods you learned during therapy. The idea behind SIT is that prior stress exposure, even imaginary, can produce resilience to later stress.

Psychodynamic therapyPsychodynamic therapy focuses on self-reflection: recognizing, understanding, and overcoming repressed emotions, subconscious motivations, and contradictory feelings. It helps you examine the psychological roots of your anger and the way you typically respond to identify and correct dysfunctional patterns.

Unlike CBT-based therapies that target current problems and modify current negative thought patterns and behaviors, psychodynamic therapy goes deeper into past experiences and focuses on learning more about yourself to help you understand why certain situations make you angry and why you express your anger the way you do.

Key Components of Therapy for Anger Management

Understanding your triggers and responses One of the key components of therapy for anger management involves identifying and understanding the triggers that set you off, how and why you respond the way you do, and both the short- and long-term consequences of your anger on you and your relationships.

Knowing what triggers your anger enables you to avoid it, if possible, and plan on how to manage your reactions when you can’t.

Learning practical strategies to diffuse your anger You will also learn how to use coping strategies such as mindfulness exercises that ground you in the present moment, relaxation techniques like deep breathing, and removing yourself from the room, to diffuse the intensity of your anger, calm you down, delay your reaction, and give yourself a chance to rethink the situation and respond more thoughtfully, rather than react in an uncontrolled, impulsive way.

Restructuring negative thought patterns and beliefs When you fly off the handle, your thinking tends to be distorted, exaggerated, biased, and overly dramatic. In therapy for anger management, you learn to identify and address the thoughts preceding your angry outbursts, challenge them to determine whether or not they are accurate assessments of reality, and replace them with more balanced, rational ones.

Benefits Of Therapy for Anger Management

• An unbiased, nonjudgmental, supportive space where you can freely explore your feelings with the help and guidance of a trained mental health professional.
• Increased self-awareness and understanding of your anger patterns, triggers, and responses.
• Better communication and conflict resolution skills, resulting in stronger, more empathetic relationships.
• The ability to effectively express your feelings in an assertive, respectful way that is not confrontational or aggressive.
• Improved emotional regulation and ability to handle stressful situations calmly and efficiently.
• The ability to stop and think before you act instead of making rash decisions without considering the possible consequences.
• A more rational mindset that enhances problem-solving skills and productivity.
• Increased confidence and self-esteem.
• Less stress, resulting in improved mental health and an overall sense of well-being.
• Improved physical health, fewer headaches, lower blood pressure, and a reduced risk of heart disease.
• Ability to accurately assess a situation and take responsibility for your emotions and resulting behaviors instead of casting blame on someone or something else.
• Ability to see a situation from the other person’s perspective.
• Clarity of mind that leads to new insights, better judgment, better decision-making, and the ability to perceive issues rationally and thoughtfully rather than in the heat of the moment.
• The ability to resolve conflicts more constructively and rebuild relationships damaged by your anger.
• The ability to find alternate ways of responding to trigger situations you can’t avoid.
• Discover what’s at the root of your anger, and whether it might be masking another emotion such as fear or shame.

If you would like to learn more or set up a risk-free appointment to meet with one of the faith-based counselors at our location, please give us a call.