Anger management is about learning how to control your emotions in a tense situation. By calming down before being provoked into an outburst, you can act more effectively and affirmatively. It is impossible to avoid every situation that may cause you to overreact due to being unable to control your anger. However, with the help of anger management therapy, you will have a better handle on letting the moment pass without reacting the way you usually would. Your anger causes you to suffer both physically and emotionally. Both internal and external events may get a rise out of you. However, you no longer need to struggle with anger alone. A co-occurring rehab program can provide the support you need to deal with anger, substance abuse, or other mental health disorders. You will be better able to keep things under control with the help of mental health treatment in a co-occurring rehab program. At Ethan Crossing of Columbus, we provide anger management therapy as part of our comprehensive approach to addiction and mental health treatment.
Expectations in an Anger Management Program Near Columbus
Everyone gets angry, but not everyone can control it. It is not the situation but the reaction to it that creates the need for anger management. The following three techniques can help alleviate the rising anger you feel in a stressful situation:
- Sensing your anger and letting the moment pass – Have an inner dialogue and talk yourself out of getting angry. Take a deep breath and count to ten. Don’t rationalize it. Try to identify where the anger is coming from; it may have little to do with the current moment.
- Expression – Have a conversation with the person you are angry at rather than a shouting contest. Alternatively, you can talk to someone you are with to figure out an alternative to creating a chaotic episode. If the time and place allow it, get some exercise. After only a few minutes, you will start to feel better, and the anger will not only subside but disappear. An apology might be in order after your run if you didn’t make it out the door fast enough before saying something you regret.
- Suppression – It is not always the best solution. You are causing your “blood to boil” by suppressing your anger, but it is better than “blowing your top.” Keeping things inside causes a somatic response that is uncomfortable to you and recognizable to everyone else. Your suppressed anger will be written all over your face. It’s better to express it constructively than to let it eat at you.
At Ethan Crossing of Columbus, we work to help our clients learn to address their feelings in a healthy manner.
How to Treat a Co-Occurring Disorder
Mental health issues often contribute to substance abuse. The tendency to self-medicate occurs when you are incapable of making good decisions because of your mental health. PTSD from past traumas or depression and anxiety may become overwhelming, and you turn to alcohol or drugs to make those feelings go away. If your mental health is unstable, you may be unable to stop using because you don’t see an alternative. Therapy will help you better understand your behavior and how to manage it, and your addiction.
Reach Out to Ethan Crossing of Columbus Today
Angry outbursts can cause shame and embarrassment to both the angry person and those around them. When you overreact to an incident, you receive all the attention at that moment, and it is all negative. Your raised voice and reddening face are telltale signs that you are not in control of yourself. But how did you get there? Was it a bad day from the moment you got up or did something happen at work that you did not deal with at the time? Did you get in an argument with your significant other and are still stewing over it? There could be other reasons that you have not recognized that they needed to be addressed.
Anger management therapy can help with learning to control those impulses and put them in a proper context. At Ethan Crossing of Columbus, we believe in treating the cause as well as the effect. What caused your anger may have also lead you to have a co-occurring disorder with a substance abuse problem. Our dual diagnosis treatment program may be able to help. We provide a full continuum of care from detox to aftercare. Contact us online or at 855.476.0078 to learn more about our services.