Anger is a natural response to some situations. For example, in the heat of a stressful or hurtful moment, we can use our anger to endure what we are experiencing. However, uncontrolled anger is destructive for your physical and mental health.
What is Anger?
Your anger comes from feeling antagonism towards a situation or a person. For example, when you feel wronged, you may react angrily. Therefore, understanding the types of anger and their symptoms is essential.
- Passive-Aggression – If you don’t like confrontation, you may react passive-aggressively. Passive aggression comes from the need to feel you are in control. It often comes in the form of giving the silent treatment, sulking, putting off things you need to do, or pretending you are “okay.”
- Open-Aggression – If you react by lashing out or trying to verbally or physically hurt others for the wrongs you feel they did, you are using open aggression to express your feelings. This type is conveyed by bullying, shouting, belittling, sarcasm, shouting, accusations, sniping, or blackmailing.
- Assertive-Anger – When you use assertive-anger to cope with a situation, you use a healthy version of anger. Assertive-anger is when you decide to listen, talk, and find healthy ways to cope with your anger, exuding confidence and control.
Flipping the Script
Anger may be a reaction to a situation you can’t control or associated with a mental health disorder like depression or low self-esteem.
Anger frequently leads to harmful behaviors. Instead of reverting to behaviors like passive-aggression or open-aggression, therapy is available to help you learn how to flip those reactions into assertive-anger. Through Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), you can change how you proceed when you feel angry.
You will learn to process your anger and focus on finding a solution or using your anger to motivate you. Anger isn’t always destructive when you use it for positive change.
Depression or low self-esteem can wear you down. As a result, you might believe you deserve specific treatment. However, when you decide to seek therapy to learn how to cope with depression or build your self-esteem, you flip the script.
Flipping the script on how others treat you means you stop asking why a person treats you a certain way. The question turns instead to why you are letting them. This question and answer can help guide you in your therapy sessions as you discover ways to decrease depression or build self-esteem. You see, you have the power to remove negative people or situations from your life. Therapy will show you how.
Therapy is one of the most effective tools to learn how to harness your anger. Instead of allowing anger to control you, individual sessions that include CBT, holistic therapies, or a combination of both can guide you towards expressing your anger productively. For example, holistic therapies such as yoga or art therapy taught in a serene setting like Avalon Malibu, teach you to flip unhealthy forms of anger, and channel it away from self-harm. Immerse yourself in a supportive space that encourages you to find joy. Please call Avalon Malibu today at (844) 857-5992.
