Does the world make you furious? Do you find yourself wondering why your spouse, your children, your boss or that guy in traffic keep pushing your buttons? Do you fly off the handle? Do you sneak back into your house late at night to see the remnants of your own rage: broken belongings and your child or spouse sleeping restlessly cowering under the covers? Do you ask yourself, “How did this happen again?” If you often find yourself escalating to verbal or physical rage when faced with frustrations, you might have an anger management issue.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and a time to consider help for your anger and rage. You are not alone as Domestic Violence, Anger and Rage affect people in all socioeconomic groups as well as people from every culture around the world. You can learn a more healthy approach and a less destructive path for your anger. Like a drug, anger releases adrenaline into your body making the feeling lead to cognitive changes, verbal and motor behaviors as well as physical arousal. This means that anger can give you rush. Anger may be a natural response mechanism, but it can be unhealthy if the intensity, duration, and frequency interfere with your ability to function and enjoy life. You can learn to stop the cyclic nature of anger from the impulse to get angry, to the feeling that engulfs your body, to the action of violence.
The skills to manage your anger and rage include:
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Assessing your anger level (Are others afraid of your anger? Are you afraid of yourself?)
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Noticing anger triggers that cause irrational thoughts and impulses
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Keeping track of the frequency, duration and consequences of your anger
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Learning to de-escalate a possibly violent rage
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Knowing that help exists for managing anger
Most people blame external forces for anger: “If only my spouse wasn’t so demanding,” “If only my kids would put away their toys,” “If only that guy didn’t cut me off in traffic,” “If only my boss was not such a jerk!” These reflections are self defeating and potentially dangerous. Through understanding the relationships between your anger episodes, you gain the ability to master your anger patterns and learn to express your emotions without negative consequences for yourself or others.
An unreasonable temper leads to consequences including addiction, divorce, legal ramifications, and even injury. Yet with trained help you can find a way out of this cycle of rage; you can learn to control your impulses for anger. There is hope for creating healthy alternatives together. Visit cliffkoblin.com for more information on Anger Management and Impulse Control, or contact us to set up an appointment.
For further information please contact:
Phone: (609) 333-1096
Email: cliff@cliffkoblin.com
or use the online contact form.