Anger is a normal human emotion that most people experience every now and then. However, if you find yourself feeling angry very often or very intensely, it may start to become a problem. 

“Rage, persistent anger, or angry outbursts can have detrimental consequences for physical health, quality of life, and relationships,” says Erin Engle, PsyD, a psychologist at Columbia University Medical Center.

“Anger management is an approach designed to help you manage the emotional and physiological arousal that accompanies anger. As it's often not possible to change the circumstances or people that elicit anger, anger management can help you recognize your triggers for anger and learn to cope with them more effectively,” explains Engle.

The aim of anger management therapy is to help minimize stressful or anger-evoking situations, improve self-control, and help you express your feelings in a healthy manner.

Therapy can help you develop a better understanding of the factors that contribute to expressions of anger; current and past triggers for anger; your responses to it; and the consequences or aftereffects to yourself and your relationships.  For instance, you may realize that yelling at your spouse is related to observing your parents yell, or the belief that you'll only get what you want if you yell.

Anger management therapy can equip you with strategies to disrupt your anger or manage your response to it through avoidance or distraction. At Hope Counseling Services, we can help you problem-solve how to respond when you’re angry. Therapy can teach you coping strategies and relaxation techniques, such as slow deep breathing, leaving the room and returning when you're collected, or using a relaxing image to alleviate the intensity of anger.

Therapy can also involve restructuring thinking and changing attitudes related to anger. We will help you examine your attitudes and ways of thinking and help identify patterns such as ruminating, catastrophizing, judging, fortune-telling, or magnifying that might exacerbate anger.  Hope Counseling Services will also work with you to help you practice changing your response patterns by teaching ways to encourage forgiveness and compassion, offer ways to let go of hurt and disappointment, and help you repair and accept ruptured relationships.