Anger Management and Counseling in Woodland Park, NJ.

The Mars & Venus Counseling Center offers help with moderate anger issues and those affected by these issues. Anger is a natural human emotion. It is a healthy response to disappointment, attack, or loss. Explosive anger, though, can create serious psychological and physical problems. By reducing and controlling anger, an individual can reduce their stress and the stress of others being affected by the anger. Our dedicated counselors will teach the struggling individual to examine their anger triggers and their skewed perceptions of situations and learn constructive ways to express their feelings. Various techniques of renowned leaders in field of anger management will be utilized throughout counseling, including but not limited to self-awareness,...(view profile to read more)

The benefit of my approach is that instead of getting angry you will learn how to think and react creatively so you are better able to find a way to prevail in the long run. People and life will sometimes do you in and obstruct you. However, you are rarely at your best when angry. It is your beliefs that lead to your self-defeating feelings of anger. I show how an angry response leads you to have far less leverage than if you felt healthy negative feelings like great annoyance, frustration, displeasure and disappointment. I teach you how to think about injustice, interference, and insult so that you stay in control of your reactions in order to creatively respond and ultimately prevail!

I work with anger management for anger that is not physically abusive and not required by the courts. We will look at the root causes - is this a way that you keep others at bay? Are there other ways to cope with anger? Is this an approach to conflict that you learned in your family? We will talk about your thoughts, experiences, and expectations regarding conflicts. I will help you to understand and articulate the cause your anger so that you are less likely to feel out of control.

Anger Management Therapy will include learning new ways of communication and self-expression. Using DBT and Internal Family Systems approach will allow for a balance in learning more about triggers to anger and that will result in more effective ways to manage these intense feelings. Results will be increased confidence in difficult conversations, being able to cope with any triggers that come up and using natural ways to self soothe and relieve any tension.

One of the main tools I use with people to help them control anger, is mindfulness. Anger is a normal emotion; we all know what it feels like. No one can help how they feel, but they can certainly control what they do with these feelings. Mindfulness is a way to help people understand what is happening for them in the moment. Teaching people to stop and pause, as they become more aware of what is happening for them, is a way to help them make different choices, rather than jumping into the same patterns which have not been useful in their lives. There are other behavioral skills clients can use as well, but it all starts with slowing the process down and awareness of what is happening.

"Sticks and stones will break my bones, but your words will break my heart." Anger Management is a powerful source of self-knowledge that develops skills that are useful throughout life. Anger Management does not eliminate anger; it empowers us to recognize surges of anger quickly enough to make a behavioral ‘U turn’ rather than saying or doing something we will regret. Instead of automatically reacting we redirect our attention inward to identify what has aroused the feelings of anger and how to deal with them appropriately. Over time the people close to us come to recall our previous anger as a dim and distant memory.

Anger isn't the problem. It's what's underneath it that we need to look at. Most people who struggle with anger aren't out of control, they're overwhelmed, and often carrying a lot more than they realize. Using CBT, EMDR, and emotional regulation techniques, I help clients identify what's actually triggering their reactions, shift the thought patterns fueling them, and develop healthier ways to express what they're feeling. We'll also look at how anger is showing up in your relationships, because that's usually where it does the most damage. The goal isn't to stop feeling angry. It's to stop letting it run the show.

Anger is a universal emotion. Anger that results in aggressive behaviors, acting out, or is interfering with living a healthy lifestyle is problematic. I will help you learn techniques to manage your angry feelings by working with you in identifying and modifying the thoughts you have that lead to angry behavior. As a result, you will learn healthier ways of coping with the triggers of your anger, and experience healthier ways of being .