10-Week Online Anger Management Program - Enrollment Open Now
What is Anger?
Our View of Anger
While anger is a normal, usually healthy, human emotion, constant or uncontrollable anger can be devastating. When out of control emotions turn destructive, you might find yourself facing problems in every corner of your life: at work, in your personal relationships, and in the overall quality of your health. For those who have always known that they have a problem with their anger, confronting difficult situations and emotions can make you feel as though you're at the mercy of unpredictable and powerful forces within. Perhaps you know why you react as you do, but perhaps you do not -- many people with anger issues feel like something just takes over sometimes.
Perhaps often you feel unappreciated, disrespected, or taken advantage of. Perhaps you've been belittled or betrayed in the past and find yourself routinely feeling hurt or unheard. You might have the social sensitivity to retreat rather than rage in public. Or you might manage emotions well at work but experience intense emotions in your relationships and home life.
Can an intelligent, professional person who doesn’t scream, swear, or smash things have an anger management issue? Of course they can. Media depictions of people with "anger-management issues" are painfully inaccurate, stigmatizing, and minimize both the sophistication and the suffering of people who struggle. Many people react to toxic stress anger by withdrawing socially, trying to suppress their chronic anxiety and agitation, or even experiencing physical and somatic symptoms such as physical illness or pain. Depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and maladaptive coping are all commons manifestations of "stuffed" anger expression. Whether your experience is more "anger in" or "anger out", the end result is often the same: harm to relationships, your self-esteem, and your physical health. Anger is very expensive on the mind and the body.
The truth is most people who have problems managing their anger have experienced some type of emotional pain or trauma in their life. If you find yourself acting in ways that seem out of control and frightening, you might need help finding better ways to deal with this emotion. You are not alone in the struggle, however. You can learn to understand your anger and what it is trying to tell you. You can learn to process the painful past experiences of which anger is a symptom. You can learn to use anger constructively rather than constructively and not stuff the emotions that hold very valuable information, only to have them explode later -- at the wrong time and in the wrong way.
It takes a lot of courage to reach for help. And it is an act of hope. When you are ready to start healing, we can help.