What anger management training courses are available? Are they useful?

Excellent question. Anger is certailny a rampant problem in our society. It ruins the lives of many people and destroys families so it is iportant to get on top of it and be in control of it rather than it control you. Many organisations offer anger management courses, just Google or call you local community or health centre. If the issues are related to husband-wife relationships then you really need to look at courses focussing on domestic abuse and violence. These tend to be educational and cover a range of issues including anger mangement. Again, call your community centre and counselling agencies and ask what is available. I've worked with hundreds of men with anger and abuse issues and always recommend group courses as I believe these are more useful than individual counselling. Individual counselling is great for dealing with personal issues but a well run group is superior, I believe, for dealing with anger issues.  One thing is for certain, unless a person takes steps to deal with thier anger it is unlikely things will change. There is a great book for men called Feeling Angry, Playing Fair by Ken McMaster which I'd recommend.  

Relationships Australia runs relationship skills training and some focus on anger management. You can go to www.relationships.org.au. You can also see a counselor to help with the management of your anger. Mike runs anger management courses in Victoria and Melbourne. You can contact 03 8650 6200. You can also contact your local community center as some of these run anger management courses. The Levitan Community Center runs anger management courses, and you can contact 03 9369-4866. You can check whether your local counseling or psychology clinics run anger management courses. A lot of them do.

In terms of strategy for anger management, you can identify the source of the trigger. In other words, find out what contributed to the anger. You can find ways to manage the stress or trigger and create an action plan with a supportive friend or family member. You may need to learn improved ways of communicating exactly what your needs are in the situation. Counseling to identify earlier negative or traumatic experiences could help with anger management. Controlled breathing before an anger reaction can help. Identify where the anger sits in your body. Is it in the chest? Is it in the throat? Is it in the stomach? Just breathing into that sensation allows you to acknowledge the negative energy. This can help to release the anger emotion.

It's a good idea to change your thinking and get rid of 'should“ statements. Change your ”shoulds“ into ”I would like“ or ”it would be nice", so as to reduce the severity of the anger. Distraction from work, as well as moving away from the environment that triggered the anger episode also addresses anger management to some degree.

Community Care Beenleigh Districts Inc runs a 6 session anger managment class at no cost.(unless professional letters are required) www.communitycarebeenleigh.com. 

There are 15 different types of anger and there are many types of courses available. Group courses are best if you already are in counselling and your indvidual needs are covered. Otherwise individual counselling is best, becuase anger is one of the four basic emotions, the others being fear, sad and happy and respond to something which needs to be addressed.

Most courses are based around behavior, being aware of the triggers that cause behavior, the tools to deal with the triggers, including being assertive and setting rules, boundaries and consequences.

The particular program I use for Anger managment is Cognitve Principle Therapy. The focus is on principles, rather than behavior. for example, 90% of anger is due to lack of respect and lack of trust [related to jealousy}. It is based on the following anger cycle:

• Activating event [the trigger]
• Underlying lack of control [based on lack of respect]
• Lack of control [feels inadequate]
• Tries to force control by arguing [to force respect]
• Feels frustrated [no respect felt]
• Feels angry [no respect felt]
• Becomes abusive [tries to force respect]

The main area of difference in the Cognitive Principle Therapy couse is that it is focused on creating new habits, not tryng to change old habits. A new habit can be created in 2 days and attached to the old habit and a change can happen in one week. Where clients want to change, and some don't if they are forced through interventon orders to come to counselling, then 80% of my clients show a reduction in anger after one week of counselling.