When Is It Time For Anger Management?

If Anger Management is seen as a program to increase skills in Self-Awareness, Self-Control, Social Awareness and Relationship Management, any time is the right time for skill enhancement in these areas. Generally, most self-referrals to Anger Management Programs are persons who are highly interested in skill enhancements in these areas. It is worth remembering that anger is a normal human emotion, which is exerienced by everyone from time to time.

Here are five specific signals that will tell you when your anger is creating problems for you.

1).When it is too frequent. There are many situations for which becoming angry is justified and natural. But, we often get angry when it is not necessary or useful. It is important to distinguish between the times when it is alright to be angry and when getting angry isn’t a wise idea.

2).When it is too intense. Anger is something that occurs at different levels of intensity. A small or moderate amount of anger can often work to your advantage. High degrees of anger rarely produce positive results and may damage your own physical health.

3).When it lasts too long. When anger continues over time, you maintain a level of arousal or stress that goes beyond normal limits. When anger does not go away, your body’s systems are prevented from returning to normal levels, which makes it easier to get angry the next time something goes wrong. Sometimes, it becomes impossible to resolve.

4).When it leads to aggression. Aggressive acts are likely to result in trouble for you. When you feel you have been abused or treated unfairly, you may want to hurt the person who has offended you. Verbal aggression, like calling someone a name, is not helpful and often leads to a cycle of increasing aggression.

5).When it destroys work or personal relationships. When your anger interferes with doing a good job or makes it hard for people to relate to you, then it becomes a problem. Anger Management is by far, the most appropriate response for developing skills to manage all of the situations mentioned above.


George Anderson, CAMF

Anderson & Anderson Executive Coaching/Anger Management