Anger Management
Anger … Aggression… Its Management – an outline.
Anger and Coping with Provocation
What is anger?
Anger is a feeling an emotion. The arousal of anger is an emotional reaction to certain kinds of stress that are known as provocation. It is different from aggression which is an action that is intended to cause injury or harm.
When we become angry, we lose our patience, our blood pressure increases and we act impulsively. But becoming angry also gives us strength, determination, even satisfaction. Anger can have desirable as well as undesirable effects. It is important to remember the difference between ANGER and AGGRESSION.
Anger is a feeling to which you are entitled.
Aggression is an action that causes harm.
Anger need not lead to aggression. When you are aware of how to express anger in a constructive way, it can lead to beneficial outcomes.
When Does Anger Become a Problem?
1. When it is too frequent…
We must begin to make a distinction between the times when it is allright to be angry and when being angry isn’t a proper response.
2. When it is too intense?
High levels of anger are a stress on our body. Anger is best kept at moderate levels.
3. When it lasts too long …
When anger does not go away, usually when we remind ourselves of past incidents that have upset us, our body’s systems are prevented from returning to normal levels, making us more susceptible to further aggravation.
4. When it leads to aggression…
Aggressive acts will get us into trouble.
5. When it disturbs work relationships…
When anger interferes with doing a good job or makes it hard for people to relate to us, it starts to have a high cost.
What Causes Anger?
Anger is the result of external factors, internal factors, and the result of the interactions between them which is our behaviour.
External factors:
Frustrations
Annoyance and Irritations
Abuse
Injustice or unfairness
Internal Factors:
Thoughts
Expectations
Our judgement of situations or persons
Self statements: our expectations of situations or persons.
Feelings
Tensions
Ill humour.
Anger is not caused by external events alone. It is also due to how we experience those events. The same situation can obviously mean different things to different people.
How do we behave when angry?
a) Withdraw/avoid
b) Antagonise/Hostile/Aggressive.
Anger Management:
This does not mean suppressing your anger or keeping a tight rein on it. Rather, it is learning how to keep anger at a moderate level and then using it in two principal ways:-
1. As a signal that it is time to take constructive actions, and
2. As a source of energy to get that action accomplished.
Anger Management means learning how to not get angry so often and how to prevent it from lasting too long.
Anger management keeps us from being the victim of our own anger.
Anger management means taking action that is aimed at resolving a problem.
Anger management is diplomatic assertion – self awareness, self confidence and communication are the keys.
Anger management is a strategic and calculated confrontation that is aimed at resolving a problem.
