5 Signs You Might Need Anger Management Therapy
Anger is something we all deal with pretty regularly. It’s totally normal to feel and even express our anger to those around us. Although anger can often make us feel aggressive, loud, and upset, most people know how to control their actions when angry.
For others, the feeling of anger can be very overwhelming and uncontrollable. This typically results in loud outbursts of rage, destructive behaviour, and loved ones getting verbally or physically hurt.
Sometimes it can be hard to identify the difference between someone experiencing angry feelings, and someone struggling with managing their anger.
At KMA Therapy, we have seen so many people struggle with identifying an anger issue and figuring out who the right people are to speak to.
By the end of this article, you’ll understand what anger management therapy is, 5 signs to help you identify if you or someone you know might need anger management therapy, and what steps to take next.
What is anger management therapy?
Anger management therapy is a form of psychotherapy that is targeted at identifying and alleviating anger issues while educating with tactics and tools to make your anger manageable.
Whether you’re someone who internalizes your anger to a detriment, or someone who has visible outbursts of anger, anger management therapy could be for you.
Anger management therapy can help you:
- Identify your anger style
- Identify triggers and prompts
- Learn different strategies to help manage anger
- Examine and learn conflict resolution skills and styles
5 signs to know if you need anger management therapy
Identifying the signs of anger management issues can be difficult, especially if you are in a situation where you are surrounded by triggers.
Here are 5 ways to identify the need for anger management therapy:
1. You hurt those around you verbally or physically
If you’re someone who is frequently hurting the people around you due to your anger, it would be helpful to be in therapy. As much as it can feel overwhelming experiencing anger, the ramifications of your anger for those around you often go unnoticed.
Your loved ones may be in constant states of anxiety or feel the need to walk on eggshells around you. Hurting people around you whether that’s verbally or physically is a key indicator that you need anger management therapy.
2. You always find yourself feeling angry
Are you constantly worked up, or triggered by the most minuscule things? This is another indicator that you might need anger management therapy.
It’s not normal to be angry all the time, and feeling that way can lead to some pretty major health risks like:
- high blood pressure
- heart palpitations
- muscle aches
- heart attacks
- strokes
3. You often feel like your anger is out of control
We usually know when we’ve gone too far with our anger, and it can lead us to feel things like:
- disappointment
- sadness
- regret
- guilt
These feelings that are caused by our actions due to anger can often make us spiral out of control and take us right back through the cycle of anger.
Any of these feelings can prompt an outburst, so lots of people who struggle with anger management end up having outbursts over and over.
If you think you’ve gone too far with your anger time and time again, it might be time to check out anger management therapy!
4. You frequently regret something you said out of anger
Any time we do something out of anger, it’s easy to feel regret about it.
But feelings of regret are especially common amongst those who have trouble controlling their anger.
If you’ve noticed you’re regularly being spiteful, and have trouble holding your tongue when dealing with conflict, anger management therapy can be a great place to learn conflict resolution techniques.
This can help nourish your current relationships and repair those you might have lost due to your actions while angry.
5. You notice that small or petty things make you angry
Those seemingly unnecessary triggers can be major indicators of our need for anger management. Sometimes we get mad or annoyed about something that’s objectively a small issue, often tied to having a bad day or moment.
But for someone struggling with anger management, small things become big things way too often. This might be something like a small spill, a stubbed toe, or a minor inconvenience leading to a blow-up.
Anger management therapy can teach you tools to help keep you calm when you start to feel that anger starting to boil up.
What do I do if I think I need anger management therapy?
So you’ve made it to the end of this article and learned 5 signs to help you figure out if you or a loved one needs anger management therapy. The good news is - acknowledging the problem is the first step. That means you are already off to an amazing start!
At KMA Therapy, we’ve helped connect so many people to the right therapist to help guide them through their therapy journey. Your next step might be doing some research on what anger management therapy might look like, and who the best people are to talk to.
If you’d like to connect with a specialist at KMA, fill out this form and someone from our office will give you a shout.
If you’re not ready to chat yet and want to learn more about therapy in general or have some other questions you need to be answered, some good reads are:
