Anger management for children and teens
Are you struggling with anger management?
Anger can cause many different symptoms. It might affect how your child feels physically or mentally, or how they behave. Some children or teens become aggressive towards others when they’re angry. Other people hide their anger and may take it out on themselves.
What is Anger?
Anger is a natural emotion. It is nature’s way of telling us that something in our lives has gone wrong. Anger occurs as a defensive response to a perceived attack or threat to our well-being. In addition to psychological changes, like any emotion, anger is accompanied by physiological changes.
For children, anger issues often accompany other mental health conditions, including ADHD, autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and Tourette’s syndrome.
When to seek treatment for Anger management
Your anger or repercussions of angry episodes are impacting negatively on your relationships or work – or even get you into trouble with the police
You feel like you can’t control your anger
You feel like you’re feeling or being aggressive, intense and angry most of the time
What you need to know
Rewrite the script in your head by identifying thoughts that cause emotional reactions and replacing them with thoughts that do not
Assess and achieve goals – and deal with setbacks – without getting angry
Remove yourself from potentially explosive situations
Brainstorm solutions to problems and evaluate success and learnings
Build on social skills to ensure behaviour and response are always appropriate
Be assertive and not aggressive
Negotiate and resolve conflict
Children display emotional issues and live under a cloud of judgment that leads to depression, low self-esteem, and dishonesty.
Teenagers have a tendency to rebel or fight back while living in a concoction of mixed emotions topped off with low self esteem and self-pity