Anger management therapy helps people control their anger and avoid destructive behavior. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the most popular model, which involves analyzing and reducing anger levels through identifying and challenging thoughts. Relaxation techniques and identifying underlying emotions are also used. Successful anger management requires willingness to deal with anger and addressing underlying conditions.
Anger management refers to therapeutic strategies that allow people to overcome excess feelings of anger and not act on destructive impulses that anger can cause. Sometimes, people have individual therapy sessions to work on their anger issues, while others may attend group therapy. This therapy may be court-ordered, when a person clearly needs help controlling angry feelings. Some prisons have also started anger management sessions to help offenders with violent pasts break free from anger-driven behaviors. People often voluntarily participate in classes or therapy, however, when they recognize that their behavior and reactions are well outside the normal range.
The most popular anger management model at the moment is based on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). In this method, those participating in therapy record times when anger is at its peak, identify the feelings or “warm thoughts” driving the emotion, list reasons why those thoughts may or may not be true, and then reanalyze the their level of anger. Emotions are usually rated as a percentage.
A person participating in CBT might start with a 95% feeling of anger and, through this thoughtful process, reduce this level to 60%. One of the goals of this type of therapy is to make people think, analyzing their anger instead of resorting to actions that are destructive to themselves or others. As people become more adept at CBT, they may be able to run this process in their head. Situations or “hot thoughts” that previously evoked anger may be recognized and easier to dismiss.
CBT also incorporates relaxation techniques, which can help people diffuse anger. These exercises might include deep breathing, as well as the normal analytical work associated with CBT. Most therapists recognize anger as an emotion used to mask deeper feelings of hurt such as grief or sadness. Help is given in anger management training so that people can identify the deeper feelings behind anger. Often, anger can be diffused when a person acknowledges other feelings that are driving them.
Anger management is often successful to the extent that people are truly willing to deal with their angry feelings. A diagnosis of the underlying conditions causing excessive anger, such as severe depression, anxiety disorder, or bipolar conditions, should also be made to identify those people who may need medication to recover fully. It is certainly possible for most people to control their anger, and the CBT model does well when people actively embrace its process.
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