Anger & Stress

Anger is a basic human emotion. We are born with the potential to feel and express anger. Anger is often confused with aggression. It is possible to feel anger and not act aggressively. The difference between anger and aggression is that aggression is an action and anger is an emotion.

Anger management helps a person deal with the one emotion that gets them into trouble the most frequently: uncontrolled anger.

Learning to deal effectively with problems through anger management enables us to better understand ways of dealing with anger that are not self-destructive or damaging to others or ourselves (e.g., substance abuse).

The first step in managing anger is effective problem solving. Effective problem skills helps to build confidence and reinforces more flexible insight when dealing with future life situations. It also reduces the stress and anxiety that can lead to poor coping behaviors.

 Every person has the right to be angry. Anger is not good or bad, right or wrong in itself. What we do with the energy behind the emotion may be. When a person is denied the right to express his or her feelings of anger, chronic frustration and potentially volatile stress reactions (internal or external) may develop. What is needed is a way for the person to have their feelings heard and validated, feel understood, and then asking for help in resolving the situation.

Assertiveness is a major skill in anger management. Assertiveness is a way to convey our internal experience to others in direct respectful ways that can be heard without defensiveness. It relies on our belief in our right to express our own thoughts, feelings, and desires without putting other down or being aggressive. Assertiveness helps to: (1) to protect our personal space and sense of identity against the intrusions of others; and (2) to manage our environment for the purpose of meeting our own needs. Angry outbursts, the abuse of power, and the domination of others are not assertive actions. Assertive acts involve maintaining our integrity and our respect for others.

Stress Management