Anger Management and Counselling in Binbrook, ON.

Anger can be upsetting not only for the one receiving it but also for the one expressing it. Although we can believe that someone "makes" us angry it is usually our own trigger that fires off. We express anger not just because we feel we have a right to be angry but because we use anger as a way of self protection. It says "back off and leave me alone." Understanding your angry pain can free you from it's grip. I have helped many clients with this difficulty through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and inner child approaches that have proven to be successful in the treatment of anger.

Anger is a completely normal, often healthy human emotion. But if it gets beyond your control, it can be very destructive in your work and interpersonal relationships and can drastically devastate the quality of your life. Fortunately, anger can be 'managed' which is very different than 'suppressing' it. Unexpressed anger leads to a host of other problems including high blood pressure. However, when we learn how to 'manage' our anger, we can learn to diminish both the emotional feelings and the physiological arousal that anger causes. We can learn to avoid triggers and develop strategies. We can learn how to problem solve, change our thinking and relax our bodies.

Anger management is a series of preventative and reactionary steps that help us regulate our emotions. While anger management is about executing these skills, the successful implementation depends on a foundational understanding of what anger is and how it operates in one’s life. Without understanding angers unique roots for each individual, anger management techniques become especially challenging to implement. My approach to anger management involves establishing a foundational understanding of anger by examining personal underlying fears and needs. With this foundation set, the individual is able to integrate a personal understanding of anger consistently with strategies and techniques.

Working with emotions is a central feature of my therapy practice. I believe that all emotions serve a purpose and that none are essentially bad. However, that said, what we do with our emotions matters very much and learning to recognize, experience, and accept feelings is an important part of learning how to express them effectively. Understanding that anger is often connected to other foundational emotions such as fear or shame is an important part of the process.

In my experience of conducting the Men's Anti-violence groups, I can help with "self-regulation" of negative and highly charged feelings of anger and resentment, both in intimate family and work-related areas. My focus is to help people with a "hot-temper" or "short-fuse" by identifying and isolating feelings that may originate and reside in negative family dynamics where "injustice" and unfairness often are at the root of such "pent-up" unexpressed feelings. Or, you were "not allowed" to express such natural and valid feelings. Effective new "habits" are learned as are ways to "control" this reflexive and impulsive behaviour. I have seen positive and healthy change come about as a result.

Having a short fuse and getting angry easily is often symptomatic of a lack of emotional regulation and being overwhelmed by stressors. When we understand our emotions and seek to dial down the intensity rather than supressing or trying to change our emotional state, we can make better decisions and avoid "hulking out." Together, we can explore causes and preventative approaches to stress management, build emotional awareness (including how other emotions sometimes present as anger), and self soothing strategies to feel more prepared to handle whatever life throws at us.

Anger is a normal natural feeling at times in ones life, however, it can be paralyzing when it is expressed in a destructive manner. Like most feelings it is never right or wrong to feel angry, but how we behave because of it can be right or wrong. By understanding the underlying causes of anger, an individual can learn a more positive way of handling their negative feelings, which will make one feel better about themselves and their relationships.

Anger is a completely normal, often healthy human emotion. But if it gets beyond your control, it can be very destructive in your work and interpersonal relationships and can drastically devastate the quality of your life. Fortunately, anger can be 'managed' which is very different than 'suppressing' it. Unexpressed anger leads to a host of other problems including high blood pressure. However, when we learn how to 'manage' our anger, we can learn to diminish both the emotional feelings and the physiological arousal that anger causes. We can learn to avoid triggers and develop strategies. We can learn how to problem solve, change our thinking and relax our bodies.

There are 3 phases in working with Anger 1.Prevention- Attempts to forestall the very onset of anger. 2. Intervention- Aims to reduce the intensity or the duration of anger that has already ignited. 3. Postvention- Aims to discharge any residual anger. Emotions are regulated by re-experiencing, releasing, or converting them into a safe form. We will not only focus on your cognitions and behaviors as entry points but also focus on the modification of affect (your emotions). Anger is an emotion. To have no room in therapy for the feeling component of this emotion is to deny its very essence, your existence. Gestalt perspective- Expression of anger can be very productive. Let out!

Anger often comes from a negative place, but for some it is an easy way to express something else that is going on inside. Especially with younger clients, anger management is really about emotion management. With so many emotions it is often difficult to know at a young age how to make sense of everything going on internally. Thus, when I speak with children and youth who are displaying anger, first I seek to discover what it is they are angry about and then help them process the issues and determine if there is really something else they are feeling. Most importantly, I also teach my clients how to recognize different emotions and deal with them effectively.