Therapeutic Techniques for Managing Anger and Frustration
Anger and frustration are normal human emotions that people experience as a response to negative stimuli, deceit, unfair treatment, disappointment, and feeling threatened. However, societal stigma implies these emotions are bad or negative, but that’s not the case. They’re normal and healthy. But the problem occurs when a person is unable to deal with anger and frustration properly. Failure to manage anger and frustration properly can lead to behavioral problems, relationship issues, aggression, and physical symptoms such as headaches, muscle tension, and high blood pressure. This post focuses on therapeutic techniques for managing anger and frustration so you can process and handle these emotions effectively.
Table of Contents
Therapeutic Techniques for Managing Anger and Frustration
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)
Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a type of psychotherapy that helps manage problems by changing a person’s thoughts and behavioral patterns. It is the most commonly employed therapeutic approach for anger management. Studies confirm that CBT can, indeed, reduce the feeling of anger successfully.
In terms of anger and frustration, CBT targets thought patterns and behaviors linked to problems managing these emotions. Once these thoughts and behaviors are identified, the therapist helps you replace them with realistic and productive responses to feelings of anger and frustration.
Anger is a quick reaction that arises from automatic, negative thoughts that only escalate the situation. The role of CBT is to help you identify the triggers that cause anger to flare up. As you recognize these triggers, it becomes easier to intervene before anger turns into an outburst.
Several variations of CBT can help with the management of anger and frustration. These include:
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy: It combines cognitive therapy, mindfulness, and meditation.
Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT): An action-oriented therapy to tackle irrational beliefs and help develop skills to manage thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in more productive, healthier ways.
Behavioral modification: Involves recognizing triggers of anger and frustration and developing coping mechanisms. Common strategies include removing yourself from a situation that may cause impulsive reactions, practicing deep breathing before responding, and addressing underlying issues.
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)
Dialectical behavior therapy is a form of therapy that focuses on teaching skills to manage intense emotions, cope with challenging situations, and improve relationships. As a modified type of CBT, dialectical behavior therapy helps you accept the reality of your life and behaviors. Also, it teaches you to change your life as well as unhelpful behaviors so that you can control your emotions more successfully. Studies indicate that DBT is effective in reducing anger and aggression.
People with frustration and anger issues often have a complex history of emotional vulnerability. For example, a child who wasn’t allowed to express anger may not learn how to safely share intense emotions in adulthood.
The goal of DBT is to help you regulate emotions, which is helpful for anger and frustration, and there are various strategies to make that happen. For example:
When feeling overwhelmed, instead of acting out with anger, ignore that impulse and do something different.
Check the facts regarding the specific situation to separate a strong negative emotion from more objective reality.
Accept the reality of the current situation to reduce emotional vulnerability.
Psychodynamic therapy
Psychodynamic therapy is a type of talk therapy that helps cope with mental or emotional distress and gain self-awareness and emotional growth. Even though it is primarily used to treat depression, psychodynamic therapy can be helpful for people with anger and frustration issues. The role of this therapy is to help you examine the psychological roots of anger and your response to it. That way, you can work toward correcting unhealthy patterns.
One paper reported that in the psychodynamic treatment of depression, an important aspect of therapy is to elucidate angry feelings and fantasies and aid their management. This is important because oftentimes depression may induce feelings of anger and frustration.
Family therapy
Family therapy is a form of talk therapy that focuses on improving relationships among family members. This therapy is useful in situations when anger is directed at family members. The goal of family therapy is to help you work together toward improving communication and resolving issues. As a result, you can also handle anger and frustration more effectively.
Other techniques
Besides the abovementioned approaches, you can manage anger and frustration with the following techniques:
Relaxation: Practice deep breathing, mindfulness meditation, or yoga to feel relaxed and calm. These practices improve emotional regulation and could help you manage anger and frustration.
Exercise: Exhibits a positive effect on anger reduction and stress control.
Humor: Although it may seem difficult, try to find something humorous in certain situations. Humor can reduce the intensity of angry responses.
Avoid triggers: Identify triggers, such as situations that cause anger and frustration; avoid or reduce exposure to them.
Art therapy: Creative expression through drawing, painting, or sculpting acts as a non-verbal outlet that helps you process anger. It makes it easier to externalize emotions and explore their underlying causes.
Music therapy: Play an instrument, compose, or listen to music in order to regulate your emotions and constructively release frustration. Upbeat music can make you energetic and improve your mood. Calming melodies exhibit a relaxing effect.
Journaling: Writing about feelings such as anger and frustration helps process emotions and gain insight into their responses and triggers. There are several journaling techniques you can try. One of them is free writing, i.e., writing continuously without filtering your thoughts.
Conclusion
It’s perfectly normal to feel angry or frustrated about something. Sometimes we experience disappointment, deceitful behavior from others, threats, and other negative situations that lead to the onset of frustration and anger. Although these emotions are normal and healthy, they become a problem when a person doesn’t know how to tackle them effectively. Fortunately, there are several techniques and strategies you can try to manage anger and frustration and reduce their impact successfully. Therapy is an important approach because it teaches you skills to cope with these situations, become emotionally resilient, and avoid outbursts that could jeopardize relationships and your quality of life.
References
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7812503/
