Anger is a greatly misunderstood emotion. While it is often viewed negatively, anger can be good or beneficial in certain circumstances. Anger can be a motivator for solving conflicts and challenging feelings or situations. It can be constructive in helping set boundaries or clarifying your needs. Anger is one of the six basic types of emotions. The others are fear, happiness, sadness, disgust, and surprise.
Like primary colors can be combined to create secondary colors, basic emotions can be combined to create more complex emotions. Anger is usually provoked by fear, disgust, sadness, or surprise and is stoked by stress, fatigue, or an invasion of personal safety, whether real or imagined. Teens are like a powderkeg of emotions, which they often express as anger.
At Imagine Nampa, we understand the difficulties of the teen years. Our teen anger management program focuses on helping teens identify the sources of their anger and teaches healthy coping skills while providing comprehensive therapy to help them heal. Contact us at 888.503.4604 to learn how we can help your child.
What Is Anger Management?
Contrary to popular belief, anger management is not about suppressing anger. Never getting angry can be just as unhealthy as expressing anger inappropriately. The goal of anger management is to teach teens to recognize their anger’s meaning and express it without losing control. This helps them strengthen their relationships, learn to manage conflict, and improve their well-being.
Anger is inevitable, and teen anger issues arise for many reasons. The physical, emotional, and social challenges of adolescence are often overwhelming. Teens experience uncomfortable tension with their parents as they struggle to balance gaining autonomy and independence with the need to rely on their parents for guidance and support.
A teen anger management program can help teens:
- Recognize anger warning signs – It can feel like anger comes out of nowhere, but there are signs to pay attention to, like a knot in your stomach, racing heartbeat, clenching your fists or jaw, pacing, or feeling like you are “seeing red.”
- Identify triggers – Paying attention to specific times of day, situations, people, or places that incite feelings of anger can help teens plan and utilize healthy coping skills.
- Explore and identify the sources of anger – Anger often masks depression, anxiety, embarrassment, guilt, hurt, or shame. Anger management uncovers and addresses these issues.
- Identify solutions – Instead of focusing on the source of anger, teens learn to focus on identifying solutions to their problems.
The core of a teen anger management program is to educate them about the difference between feeling angry and behaving aggressively. At Imagine Nampa, we also strive to educate parents about the causes of teen anger that may be overlooked or misunderstood. A goal is to open the lines of communication between teens, parents, teachers, and other significant people to afford teens a safe place to express themselves.
Anger Management Techniques for Teens
Anger is a normal part of adolescence and can be a healthy response to external stressors. However, anger can also be a secondary emotion that masks underlying sadness, anxiety, depression, hurt, fear, and trauma. No matter the root cause of anger, teens must learn to express it in healthy ways. Through anger management, teens learn about the stages of anger and healthy anger management techniques.
Anger management can be considered a tool kit from which teens can utilize different tools for different circumstances. Developing anger management tools often requires teens to step out of their comfort zone to practice new behaviors and ways of thinking.
Following are examples of anger management techniques for teens:
- Setting appropriate boundaries and limits
- Focusing on things that are within their control
- Standing up for oneself firmly but respectfully
- Practicing relaxation techniques
- Journaling
- Listening to music
- Imagining a triggering event from another person’s perspective
- Exercising
- Practicing self-soothing techniques
- Taking a self-imposed time-out
Contrary to popular belief, anger management is not about learning to suppress anger. Instead, the goal is to recognize the meaning behind anger and express it healthily without losing control. Learning to do so will help teens strengthen their relationships, better manage conflict, and improve their overall well-being.
Reach Out to Imagine Nampa for a Teen Anger Management Program
Imagine Nampa provides comprehensive day treatment for teens ages 12-17. Many teens have poor coping skills and struggle with anger management issues. Contact our team today to learn about the benefits of our teen anger management program for your child and family. Use our online form or call 888.503.4604.