Goals and Benefits of Anger Management Counseling

We’ve all had those moments when our emotions have gotten the better of us. Usually, it’s when we’re feeling tired, hungry, haven’t slept well, or are under enormous pressure from work, finances, or relationship issues. In that moment, we can yield to what we’re feeling, whether it’s anger, resentment, sadness, or glee. For better or worse, we find ourselves thinking, acting, or saying something we shouldn’t, with all its consequences. We could use better anger management counseling.

One powerful emotion that is often associated with negative actions and consequences is anger. Anger comes in different guises, and it has varying levels of intensity. A person can be mildly annoyed or irritated, or they can find themselves in a boiling rage. Whatever level of anger one is feeling, it can manifest and get expressed in different ways, with some of these being problematic.

For the person who wrestles with anger, the good news is that there is effective help available through self-help techniques as well as the deeper work that anger management counseling yields.

Is anger the problem?

There are some emotions we readily consider or categorize as negative or unhealthy. These include anger and sadness. The issue, however, isn’t the emotions, but the circumstances in which they arise. We get angry in certain moments because someone has thwarted us, or because we feel threatened in some way. Sadness often follows on the heels of loss, and so the emotions themselves can start to seem unwelcome.

Our emotions are an important part of our makeup, and they perform the much-needed function of alerting us to what’s going on inside of us. Thinking of your emotions as unhealthy or negative (and thus to be avoided) is about as helpful as taping over your “check engine” light or the fuel gauge in your car. It implies your car needs something that’ll cost you money. The light and gauge are only doing their job of helping you care for your vehicle.

In the same way, anger itself isn’t necessarily the problem. When you feel angry, there’s usually a reason for it, and your emotional reaction is prodding you to look into it. We often don’t pay enough attention to our own emotions, and that means we are often clueless about why we feel the way we do. Also, we sometimes don’t know how to express emotion in a healthy or constructive manner.

The Basics of Anger Management Counseling

When you go for anger management counseling, there may be any number of circumstances that led you there. You may have found yourself with broken relationships around you, with your anger being at the root of it. Perhaps it was court-mandated, because you got into some trouble with the law on account of the way you acted because of your anger. Whatever the case may be, anger management counseling can help.

In large measure, anger management counseling is about developing a better understanding of your anger and finding healthy ways of coping with and expressing it. As you work with your counselor, they will help you develop the tools to recognize when you’re feeling angry. This can be as simple as understanding the symptoms of anger, such as increased heart rate, raising your voice, or aggressive posturing.

In addition to becoming more self-aware about when you’re feeling angry, your counselor will also help you to develop coping skills and strategies so that you can deal with these feelings of anger in a way that’s healthy and sustainable. Understanding what makes you angry is important and considering how people express this complex emotion is important. As you do your anger management counseling sessions, you’ll better appreciate how your anger works.

The goals and benefits of anger management counseling include the following:

Greater self-awareness

The counseling aims to help you gain greater awareness of what causes you to get angry, and this allows you to better prepare for situations you encounter. Counseling also helps you uncover the underlying emotions that might present as anger. For instance, embarrassment or disappointment might result in you feeling angry, but the anger is a distraction from what you’re feeling.

Healthy coping

With greater self-awareness as well as coping tools, it’s possible to bring your anger under control and reduce your sense of tension. You can employ tools such as deep breathing or progressive muscle relaxation to calm yourself. You can also learn to remove yourself from the triggering situation, as remaining in an unhealthy situation may only serve to fuel your anger.

Expressing anger well

Your anger has its place in your life. One of the goals and benefits of anger management counseling is helping you appreciate the role of anger, such as alerting you when your boundaries have been violated. You can also learn healthy ways of expressing your anger, such as talking through your feelings and naming your needs.

Help is available

If anger has caused problems for you, affecting your relationships or even your health and well-being, know that there is help available in the form of anger management counseling. A therapist can help you develop healthy strategies for dealing with your anger, as well as with understanding some of the underlying causes of it.

If you are ready to start this journey, call us today at Longview Christian Counseling. We will set up an appointment for you with a trained counselor at Longview Christian Counseling in Washington.