Fact Sheet: Anger

What is Anger?

Anger arises when we believe we have been treated unfairly or disrespected, or when we perceive a violation of our rules or expectations, signalling an injustice that we find unacceptable. Thinking this way leads us to feel angry, which stimulates the body’s adrenaline response which is our body’s way of helping us to cope with either fighting or running away.

Everyone gets angry at some point.  Anger is a natural emotional response, not a rational one and it can affect aspects of our life; work, friendships, health, relationships and mental health.

Suppressing or ignoring the things that make you feel angry can also lead to stress and symptoms such as headaches and digestive problems but can lead to other types of behaviour like being obstructive, refusing to speak to someone or responding to people sarcastically.  You could get excessively angry too quickly or too often over small things and be unable to let go of your anger. 

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To help overcome a persistent anger problem, we need to understand what we are REALLY angry about – which may well be not what we are directing our anger towards at the time. It is often due to something related to something from our past, and the current situation feels similar, so it triggers our angry response now.

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Thoughts that often occur:

• I am being treated unfairly

• I am being disrespected

• I am being ignored

• I am embarrassed

 

Don’t let anger build up, deal with it by noticing when something makes you feel angry, even if it’s a small thing. Don’t ignore how something makes you feel.

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Counselling at Youthline can help you manage your anger healthily and constructively. Working with a Counsellor offers you a structured and supportive environment for learning about yourself and how to manage your anger in a safe and supported environment.

 

Counselling can help in the following ways: 

1. Identify Triggers: Understanding the root causes of anger is important for developing effective coping strategies. It helps you identify specific triggers that lead to feeling frustration and anger. 

2. Emotional Regulation: It can help you to regulate your emotions and develop skills to manage intense feelings. This may sometimes include deep breathing exercises, mindfulness practices, or other techniques.

3. Communication Skills: Working together with the counsellor ways can be discovered that can help you improve your communication skills, and help you express your feelings and needs more constructively.

4. Problem-Solving Skills: Counselling focuses on developing your ways to solve and work through challenging situations. It helps you break down problems into manageable parts and identifies solutions suited to you. 

5. Stress Management: Stress is a natural feeling in challenging situations which often makes anger worse. Counselling can help develop stress management techniques to cope with the pressures and challenges that contribute to feeling angry.

6. Exploring underlying Issues:  Anger can sometimes have deeper underlying issues and counselling can help explore these issues, offering insight into the root causes of anger which helps the healing process.