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Anger management is a crucial part of balancing mental health, and a particularly crucial part of the current culture in our modern lives. While civility and social norms fall somewhat by the wayside, we are more and more inundated with reality television shows, crude advertising, internet obsession and ultra-violent video and computer games.
The media exults in anything profit-bearing, and if sex and violence end in this result, the cost is acceptable. Scenarios are portrayed in which grown men and women regularly lose their tempers and treat others with an appalling lack of manners and respect.
According to Leonard Ingram’s angermanagement.com it’s not anger that is the problem. It’s the way people handle this strong, powerful emotion that causes all the trouble.
Not unlike sorrow or joy, anger is a very extreme version of our disgruntlement or annoyance. If we are unable to regulate this emotional response, we begin to take our anger out on the people closest to us, including our parents, our children, our significant others and our co-workers, our bosses, employees or friends.
Personal and professional problems are commonplace in the lives of those with anger management problems and learning coping mechanisms is not only helpful, but crucial for moving forward in a healthy way.
Naturally aggression is a visceral reaction to anger. However, acting aggressively can cause personal and professional issues including but not limited to road rage, domestic abuse, child abuse, violent criminal activity, verbal and emotional abuse, and broken relationships in every area of one’s life.
Resentment is the opposite of acting out in aggression yet burying one’s anger without resolving it in a healthy way can cause personal problems as well. Buried anger can lead to depression, substance abuse, poor work performance, issues in relationships and parenting and so much more.
Learning to bring your anger levels down to manageable levels is the key to anger management. Coping techniques can involve physically calming yourself by bringing your pulse and heart rate down through yoga, meditation, mindfulness, exercise, eating whole foods lower in sugar and caffeine, and learning to talk yourself down, count to ten or write something down that may help you if you feel the beginnings of intense anger emerging.
If you feel you or your loved one has an anger management problem, it’s very important to find quality professional assistance in supporting you as you learn to cope with this issue, and to express your concerns to your health professional who may have some suggestions for you as well.
Sources:
Leonard Ingram’s. Angermanagement.com. Retrieved from the internet on December 20, 2011.
http://angermgmt.com
American Psychological Association. “Controlling anger before it controls you”
Retrieved from the internet on December 20, 2011
http://www.apa.org/topics/anger/control.aspx
Reviewed December 20, 2011
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jody Smith
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