Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Techniques For Anger
Anger is a strong emotion that can have detrimental effects on health and relationships. If you find that your anger is out of control, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) might be beneficial for you.
CBT helps you manage your emotions and develop strategies for dealing with triggers and challenging circumstances. It may also enable you to recognize unhealthy thought patterns that lead to anger or impulsive behavior.
CBT is a collaborative effort between you and your therapist that seeks to identify key beliefs, alter thinking patterns, and employ problem-solving strategies. While the exact techniques employed will depend on the specific issue at hand, generally speaking the therapist will attempt to address:
Beliefs are your interpretations of something, and they can make something appear more real or irrational than it actually is. Therefore, it’s essential to assess your beliefs and determine if they are accurate.
By altering how you think about your beliefs, you can begin to alter how you approach other situations as well. Doing this helps you view a situation from an entirely new light and prevent feeling overwhelmed or frustrated by it.
One way to accomplish this is by trying to view the situation from their point of view. Doing this can be beneficial if you’re having trouble getting along with someone or feel that they have wronged you in some way.
Another way to enhance your thinking is keeping a journal and writing down your thoughts regularly. Doing this helps you understand where those patterns originate from and how they influence your life.
A therapist can teach you how to utilize anger as a motivator for solving problems or confronting injustice, so that instead of sitting on your emotions and waiting for them to go away, you take action instead of waiting.
Controlling your anger can be a challenging skill to learn, but it is achievable. There are various strategies you can employ to help reduce this urge, such as:
If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed by anger, it may be best to leave the situation and move on. Doing this will prevent you from dwelling on it too long and getting caught in a cycle of negative thinking which could aggravate symptoms further.
This technique can be beneficial in recognizing what is likely to occur and what is unlikely. By doing so, you are better equipped to make decisions about how best to handle a given situation while leaving you feeling better overall.
This more recent technique has been shown to reduce anger and anxiety levels as well as self-reported emotional expressions by 78% (Askari, 2019). It involves a series of exercises designed to help you maintain control over your thoughts and emotions.
CBT is a brief treatment that typically requires several sessions. It can be conducted online or face-to-face; however, the number of sessions necessary to improve an individual’s condition depends on its severity, how long they’ve had it, and whether other factors are contributing factors.
