Anger Management: Understanding Anger

Understanding Anger Anger is a universal experience — dogs get angry, bees get angry, and so do humans. This course is not about teaching you to never become angry, or to hide your anger. It is about **managing** your anger. The goal of anger management is to reduce your emotional feelings and the physiological arousal that anger provokes. You can't get rid of or avoid all the things or people that anger you, but you can learn to control what you do about it. What you really want is a new type of relationship with your emotions — one where you manage them rather than letting them manage you. The most instinctive way to express anger is to respond aggressively. This is a natural response to a threat, and it inspires powerful feelings and behaviors that help you fight back and defend yourself. A certain amount of anger, then, is necessary for survival. However, without constructive outlets and awareness, anger can damage relationships and your health. **Self-awareness** is a key element for managing your own anger. Recognizing that you are angry — and treating that anger as a cue that something is wrong — is the first step. Expressing your anger assertively, but not aggressively, is both safe and healthy. The Five Dimensions of Anger Think of anger as five