Anger Management and Counseling in Sarasota, FL.

We all know what anger is, and we've all felt it; whether it's felt as a temporary annoyance or as an outright rage. Anger is a completely normal & usually healthy human emotion. It's a natural, adaptive response that incites powerful feelings & behaviors. Therefore, a certain amount of anger is necessary to our survival. But here's the catch: When anger gets out of control and becomes aggressive and/or destructive, it can lead to problems at work, in relationships, and even with your health. My goal is to help you gain control over your anger BEFORE it controls you. With professional help, you CAN learn to express your anger in assertive, healthy, & non-aggressive ways.

As a culture, we do not do well with healthy expressions of anger. Often we are raised to suppress it and then we have limited practice at dealing with big emotion. There is a spectrum of healthy aggression- to keep us safe and to maintain boundaries- and rage- our body's strategy for safety. Anger management is about applying the right "dosing" to maintain boundaries yet not fracture relationships or suffer other losses. I am able to help you learn to regulate your body to be able to apply the appropriate "dose" to be effective and not destructive.

Many times anger is the only acceptable emotion, especially for men. Uncovering the feelings, emotions and frustrations that are behind that anger can completely change the dynamic. Let's work to understand what that anger is about and heal it. Decreasing anger can completely change your relationships and increase a sense of calmness and peace in your life. It is never too late to have a happy life.

In my experience as an EMDR therapist, I pay close attention to the links between past and present. I’ve seen time and time again how unhealed emotional wounds resurface and come out sideways. While anger management can provide helpful strategies, they don’t get to the heart of the issue. Often, anger is what we see on the surface, but the real problem is what’s underneath the anger. Negative beliefs like “I’m helpless,” “I’m out of control,” and “I’m a failure,” start to bubble up, and anger comes to the rescue. It can get us in trouble, but at least it gets the blood pumping. With research-proven EMDR therapy, I help men heal anger at its source so it doesn’t have to be managed.

Anger is a common emotion- one that is neither good nor bad and one that can have positive or negative consequences. Anger management therapy helps clients recognize their anger and develop skills and strategies for effectively managing their anger. I will help you identify triggers and underlying issues, identify your body’s response and/or reaction (physical symptoms) and provide education on the difference between reaction and response, help identify effective ways to express feelings, and greater self-awareness.

Our body and brain are connected in such a way that sometimes we react to a situation before we even realize what is happening. Being able to control your actions is such an important part of living. It affects our relationships, our work, our home life, even our self-care time. If you have been struggling with handling anger appropriately, I will help you understand the mind-body connection and what you can do to stop and think before automatically responding to a situation.

Grey Matters International and the work of Kevin J. Fleming, Ph.D approaches issues of anger management in a very humane yet fresh perspective. You see, anger is a normal emotion but it is the valence (intensity) as well as the coupling choice of what one does with this that is the problem. Telling someone to "not" do it or modifying behavior with a trite psychological plan that only breeds a compliant response is not the way to change anger. Brainwave optimization is a new cutting edge technology that allows one to rewire circuitry responsible for reactivity driving the anger. Contact Grey Matters International, Inc now at kevin@kevinflemingphd.com or 877-606-6161.

We help our clients to have greater understanding of themselves and their interactions with others to improve the quality of their relationships. We utilize mindfulness, self-exploration, and self-soothing techniques to help improve clients' emotional regulation skills. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, EMDR or ART, Trauma-Focused CBT, and Existential Therapy are especially helpful for healing trauma and improving interpersonal interactions with others.