Anger Management for Stress Relief

By Elizabeth Scott

Anger can push us into action when things need changing in our lives. It wouldn’t be desirable to never be angry - those who try for a complete lack of anger often end up just internalising their emotions, and then exploding at inopportune times.  It often causes more difficulty than if they had expressed their anger in healthy ways. So, anger management can help not only to eliminate unnecessary anger, but also to express anger healthily.

The anger management tips and exercises below can enable you to enjoy healthier relationships and less stress in your life.

Examine Your Beliefs
When you get angry, you can often (some experts even go so far as to say always) trace the emotion back to a belief that what happened was wrong, not supposed to have happened. Pinpointing the exact thoughts that are tied to your anger can enable you to talk yourself out of anger, or realize that whatever it is that’s triggering your anger may not necessarily need to lead to an anger response.

Eliminate ‘Anger Triggers’
Once you realise what types of things make you angry, you can start cutting some of these triggers out of your life. For example, if you have a friend who constantly triggers your anger, you may want to look at the beliefs behind your anger with this person, or limit your contact. If you already know what things seem to bring about an anger response, and you can cut them out of your life, it may be the best course of action in the interest of anger management.

Develop Effective Communication Skills
Effective communication skills and conflict resolution techniques can help in two ways: They can help us communicate our boundaries to others so that we are less likely to feel frustration and anger in our relationships, and they help us to do so in a way that doesn’t provoke anger in others.

Take Care of Yourself
If your body is under strain, you may be more prone to anger in your daily life. Sleep-deprived or hungry people are often cranky. If can achieve a good work-life balance so that you have enough time outside of work to get quality sleep, eat a healthy diet, and have some time for hobbies and relationships, you should find yourself less tense and anger-prone.

Keep Some Stress Relievers Handy
Having stress management techniques on-hand to quiet the storm can help you soften or eliminate anger in your life. These include breathing exercises, and mediation. Exercise carries similar benefits.

Get Support
Anger can be a cry for help. If you find yourself angry more often than you’d like, you may just need more help and support from others. If you find that you’re angry over constant ‘little things,’ perhaps you’re too busy and overwhelmed, and you need to cut back on your lifestyle stress. Don’t be afraid to ask others to help take some of the burden off, if they’re able.

Finally, if you feel that your anger management efforts aren’t as effective as you’d like, it might be useful to enlist the support of a therapist, who can help you take a deeper look at your anger and find ways to work through it and express it in healthy ways.