Creative Ways to Deal with Anger

 Anger is a powerful feeling. It’s a normal and healthy emotion that happens when you are frustrated, hurt, annoyed, or disappointed. It could be the result of something that happens to you, something someone said or did, or something you remember. Anger is a normal, healthy emotion, neither good nor bad. Like any emotion, it conveys a message, telling you that a situation is upsetting, unjust, or threatening. If your knee-jerk reaction to anger is to explode, however, that message never has a chance to be conveyed. So, while it’s perfectly normal to feel angry when you’ve been mistreated or wronged, anger becomes a problem when you express it in a way that harms yourself or others.

Anger management is a way to lessen the effects that anger has on you. Anger is a normal reaction and feeling, so you cannot make it go away. But you can learn to manage it better. Anger management refers to a process. It can help people identify stressors. People learn steps to help them stay calm in anger management. They may then handle tense situations in a constructive, positive way. Since unchecked anger can often lead to aggressive behaviour, anger management uses various techniques to help a person cope with thoughts, feelings, and behaviours healthily and more productively.

 

•           Relationships. Anger can cause lasting scars in the people you love most and get in the way of friendships and work relationships. Explosive anger makes it hard for others to trust you, speak honestly, or feel comfortable—and is especially damaging to children.

•           Physical health. Constantly operating at high levels of stress and anger makes you more susceptible to heart disease, diabetes, a weakened immune system, insomnia, and high blood pressure

 

•           Career. Constructive criticism, creative differences, and heated debate can be healthy. But lashing out only alienates your colleagues, supervisors, or clients and erodes their respect.

•           Mental health. Chronic anger consumes huge amounts of mental energy, and clouds your thinking, making it harder to concentrate or enjoy life. It can also lead to stress, depression, and other mental health problems.

How to control anger

When you’re angry, you might have feelings anywhere from slight irritation to rage. When that happens, try this:

•           Breathe deeply from your diaphragm.

•           Give yourself a pep talk.

•           Slowly repeat a calm word or phrase such as "relax" or "take it easy." Repeat it to yourself while breathing deeply until the anger subsides.

•           After that, express yourself clearly and calmly.

•           If you have trouble realizing when you’re having angry thoughts, keep a written log of when you feel angry.

•           Try to gain a different perspective by putting yourself in another's place.

•           Learn how to laugh at yourself and see humour in situations.

•           Physical activity like regular exercise is a way to both improve your mood and release tension and anger.

•           Stretch or massage areas of tension. Roll your shoulders if you are tensing them, for example, or gently massage your neck and scalp.

•           Slowly count to ten. Focus on counting to let your rational mind catch up with your feelings. If you still feel out of control by the time you reach ten, start counting again.

•           Take some deep breaths. Deep, slow breathing helps counteract rising tension. The key is to breathe deeply from the abdomen, getting as much fresh air as possible into your lungs.

•           Get moving. A brisk walk around the block is a great idea. Physical activity releases pent-up energy so you can approach the situation with a cooler head.

•           Be willing to forgive. Resolving conflict is impossible if you’re unwilling or unable to forgive. Resolution lies in releasing the urge to punish, which can never compensate for our losses and only adds to our injury by further depleting and draining our lives.

•           Know when to let something go. If you can’t agree, agree to disagree. It takes two people to keep an argument going. If a conflict is going nowhere, you can choose to disengage and move on.

•           If you believe that your anger is out of control and is having a negative effect on your life and relationships, seek the help of mental health professional. A psychologist or other licensed mental health professional can work with you to teach you techniques for changing your thinking and your behaviour. A mental health professional can help you appropriately deal with your anger.

•           Ask your doctor if medicines could be helpful. Sometimes, antidepressants, certain anticonvulsants, and low-dose antipsychotics can help manage sudden attacks of rage or anger. Avoid alcohol, short-acting benzodiazepines like Xanax, or street drugs that can make you say or do things more impulsively. Choose your therapist carefully, and make sure to talk to a professional trained to teach anger management and assertiveness skills.