Anger Management and Counseling in Hillsborough, NC.

My approach to anger management includes a thorough psychiatric assessment, as well as ongoing self-monitoring with an anger journal. Clients learn to recognize their own unique early warning signs of anger [self-talk, physical cues] and high risk situations that evoke anger. Clients learn coping skills including relaxation, coping self-talk and assertiveness training.

We must gain insight into the sources of the anger issues and attempt to process and heal these. Also I collaborate with my clients on effective strategies to contain the anger and refrain from acting on it. Approaches to calm the body and mind are also important. A common strategy is to help the client to recognize the minute the anger starts and finding customized ways to quickly veer away so as not to allow the feeling to go into action.

Anger is often a misunderstood emotion and often looked at as more negative than positive. In applying cognitive behavioral approaches to developing a healthy use and control of anger, therapy will support you in not suppressing anger but recognizing the difference between healthy and unhealthy anger and regaining your mastery over this complex emotion. Often this leads to overall better self understanding and increased confidence as well as improved personal and professional relationships.

A lack of ability to manage one’s anger can have devastating effects on a person’s life, to include intimate relationships, parenting, work, and friendships. Clients often present frustrated with themselves for this inability, but feeling unable to change what feels to them like an automatic response and a normal response to stress and annoyances. At Lepage Associates we help people recognize managing anger is a skill, and like all other skills it can be leaned with guidance and hard work. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has been the preferred method of treatment for anger for decades. Cognitively, clients are taught to become more aware of when and how their anger develops by identifying

I understand that anger is a secondary emotion. That anger is the result of a range of primary emotions such as sadness, anxiety, or loneliness. People struggling with angry behaviors can feel stuck and hopeless. Anger reactions can occur due to specific triggers, or seemingly out of the blue. I help clients identify their anger patterns and break unhealthy cycles that have made personal and professional life difficult. Using a combination of anger management tools, cognitive and dialectical behavior therapies, I guide clients to a life free of anger outbursts and more emotional control.