Anger is one of our most common emotional experiences. In the course of normal daily life, we get angry when things go wrong or when we are frustrated, hurt or when we are simply disappointed in how things turn out. These are all legitimate reasons for being angry. However, there is a big difference between the expression of anger and actual anger management problems. Anger that leads to verbal or physical abuse is not only unhealthy, but it can also have serious psychological and physiological consequences.
Some people cope with anger problems by learning to express their feelings in more constructive ways. Others tend to bottle up their anger until they lose control. There are many people who find help with anger management by going to therapy.
Anger therapy aims to teach you how to deal with your feelings of anger in a healthy way. It does not matter what caused you to get angry. Therapists working with anger problems are familiar with a wide range of scenarios and different ways of dealing with them.
When you start treatment for your anger, the first thing that will be tried on will be medications. If you have tried prescription medications in the past and they did not help, then psychotherapy is the likely treatment to work. Prescription drugs have been known to cause unpleasant side effects and to worsen the underlying problem of anger. By helping you change the way you react to situations, anger therapy is aimed at freeing you from your anger permanently.
A popular route taken by people seeking help with anger therapy is to enroll in a cognitive behavior therapy program. This kind of program usually involves weekly sessions with a qualified therapist. Cognitive behavior therapy helps you deal with challenging situations that may lead you to express your anger in unhealthy ways. You learn how to change the way you think about the things that upset you so that you can handle them more effectively. Behavior therapy is often recommended as a last, or at least initial, resort for people seeking help. Like cognitive therapy, it also helps you change how you behave so that you don’t get into situations where you lash out.
Anger therapy offers other benefits as well. Through this process, you can learn how to better interact with others, how to remain calm when things go wrong, and how to avoid situations that will lead to bouts of anger. Some therapists also recommend meditation or yoga as ways to cope with difficult emotions. The goal of therapy is not to get you totally cured from anger, but to help you cope with it and help you keep it under control.
If you think therapy is not right for you, there are plenty of resources available. Several online anger management resources offer basic anger management classes. You can also find several good books on the subject. There are also anger management counseling sessions offered by nearly all local mental health clinics and hospitals. Your doctor should be able to give you the names of some good therapists in your area who specialize in anger problems.
Before deciding if therapy is right for you, it’s a good idea to do some research. Check out some online anger therapy forums to get a sense of the experience of other people. Even after you find some good local therapists, it’s a good idea to take some further studies. At the very least, start looking into anger therapy programs at your local university. A master’s degree can help you get a job in counseling, and the programs can help you get a job in a variety of fields. The more training and study you do, the more likely you are to succeed in therapy.