© 2010 John DeMarco M.Ed., LPC. All rights reserved.

Counting to ten, punching a pillow, telling someone off, or any other way of letting out anger, doesn’t  help to get rid of it, at least not in the long run. In fact, doing those things inflames anger and in the end gives you more problems.

There is a better way of controlling anger. Your anger response is controlled by your thinking style. Thinking style is a set of basic beliefs you use to analyze and interpret everything that happens to you. Thinking style is a learned behavior and therefore it can be unlearned. Over your lifetime you developed a thinking style that triggers your anger. In anger management therapy you learn how to modify your thinking to develop anger control.

Anger is provoked by triggers—cognitive (thinking) and emotional triggers. In therapy, you just don’t learn techniques for sidetracking anger; you actually desensitize your triggers. The end result is that things which used to make you angry no longer will, or the anger will be significantly less.

In anger management therapy, you will develop new skills that will enable you to effectively manage your emotions and increase your self-confidence. Because anger is a normal emotion, you will never lose your ability to become angry. You will however, become better equipped to cope with frustrations in reasonable and responsible ways; and you will be in a better position to get more of what you want out of life.

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Is anger disrupting  your life?

Is it harming your relationships?

Is it keeping you from feeling good about yourself?

Is irritable mood robbing you of your happiness?

You can find relief...