What is the difference between anger and aggression/violence?
Anger is an emotion and a physical feeling.
Most of us notice that when we are angry our bodies feel to a greater or lesser extent wound up’. Our heart beats faster, we become hot and our muscles get tense. We are less able to think clearly, and may engage in potentially destructive thoughts, such as ‘I’ll make him pay for this.’
Aggression and violence are behaviours that emerge in response to anger, and whilst anger can be functional and useful (indeed we need to be able to feel anger for our survival), aggression is generally counterproductive and violence is never acceptable (except in war or self defence, many would argue).
Uncontrolled anger usually is self-defeating and gets us into trouble.
What can Swift do to Help?
We have a variety of approaches to anger management, including enabling people to:
- Recognise the early warning signs in their bodies that they are angry while they are still in a position to control it
- Turn off their emotional/physical ‘anger response’
- Counter angry thoughts that might lead to aggression and/or violence
- Self calm and ‘cool down’
- Express their views about the issue that lies behind their anger in a respectful and calm way.
In some cases we find people have experienced traumatic events in the past that have caused them great suffering and anger. In such a case, reminders of the experience in the ‘present’ can trigger the same angry feelings as felt in the past (though, often the person has no idea why they have got so angry in the present).
Using EMDR we can bring healing to the past trauma and then desensitize the triggers that continue to operate in the present that lead to the angry episodes. In this way, not only is the past anger dealt with but current triggered episodes also are eliminated.
Anger Management counselling is a service available to patients in the Swindon Practice.
We aim to see clients within one week of them contacting us.
Services
Our approach to therapy
- Overview
- Supervision
- Systemic Psychotherapy
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
- Co-mediation
- SFBT (Solution Focussed Brief Therapy)
- Appreciative Inquiry
- Case Examples
- Non Violence Resistance
Testimonials
Following a car accident, I suffered terribly with a fight or flight response when driving. I did not know what this anxiety was and tried for months to recover on my own. After a particularly severe anxiety attack, I realised that I needed to get help. EMDR therapy was incredibly effective. My anxiety was linked specifically to the accident and in one session the anxiety was dispersed. I literally walked out of Swift Counselling, got in my car and drove with no anxiety from that moment on. I am thrilled with the results, thank you.
