Anger is an important emotion that we all experience at some point in our lives. When we manage it in a healthy way, it is part of what allows us to assert ourselves and set boundaries. However, if we experience it in an unhealthy way, it can be difficult to manage and control, leading to detrimental effects on our personal and professional relationships. In this article, we'll discuss how ISTDP may be the answer to your anger issues and how it works to promote emotional regulation.
Understanding Anger Problems
Anger is a natural emotion that can be healthy when expressed appropriately.
However, anger issues arise when an individual struggles to regulate their emotional response and express their feelings in a productive manner. This tends to happen either when a person struggles with impulse control, such as releasing anger in an unhealthy, destructive way, or an inability to feel their anger fully, leading to passive and unassertive behaviour.
Regardless of the severity or presentation, anger problems can affect one's mental and physical health, leading to problems such as depression, anxiety, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease.
How ISTDP Can Help You With Anger Issues
If you are struggling with anger problems, it can feel like an overwhelming and frustrating experience. Unhealthy management of anger can negatively impact all aspects of your life, from relationships to work to your overall well-being.
But there is hope ISTDP is an approach that can help you overcome your anger issues and achieve a happier, healthier life.
ISTDP is a type of therapy that focuses on understanding and changing emotional patterns that cause distress and suffering. Through ISTDP, you can learn to recognise and express emotions in a healthy way, learn to control your anger without being overwhelmed by it, or learn how to effectively communicate it, so that it doesn't cause chronic irritation and stress symptoms.
One of the key ways that ISTDP helps with anger management is by focusing on building capacity to express anger in a healthy, constructive way, that doesn't lead to a need to either discharge anger, through unhealthy actions (such as shouting, or hitting out), or to suppress anger.
Techniques Used in ISTDP for Anger problems
Here are some techniques that therapists use in ISTDP for overcoming anger issues:
1. Body Focused Techniques: The therapist will help the individual to become more aware of the physical sensations associated with their anger and help them to contain the anger without impulsive outbursts or suppressing the emotion.
Most people are unaware of how anger builds within their body, which results in outbursts of anger that they had been unaware had been building up. This technique brings far more conscious control of this, leading to a healthier and more constructive relationship with your anger.
2. Defence Restructuring: This approach involves examining the conscious and unconscious defence mechanisms an individual currently uses to manage their anger, by building an understanding of these mechanisms, the therapist can help the client to choose healthier mechanisms that will allow for a better approach to dealing with their anger.
3. Emotional Regulation: ISTDP also focuses on helping individuals learn to regulate their emotions and express them in a healthy manner. If a person struggles to regulate their emotions it can trigger a rise in anxiety, if anxiety increases this can cause difficulties in effectively manging emotions, resulting in negative actions. An ISTDP therapist can help you regulate both anxiety and your feelings to further control and contain your anger.
Case Studies and Success Stories
When it comes to anger management, ISTDP has proven to be highly effective. Let's take a look at some case studies and success stories of people who have benefitted from this therapeutic approach.
Case Study #1:
Tom had a history of explosive anger outbursts that had caused him to lose his job and strain his relationships with loved ones. He sought help from a therapist who practiced ISTDP. Over the course of several sessions, Tom was able to identify the underlying past emotional pain that was causing his anger to surface and be triggered in certain situation. Tom was able to fully experience the underlying pain and resolve feelings he had not been able to do in the past within the sessions with the therapist. By doing this, Tom's current feelings of anger reflected what was happening in the current situation, rather than become exaggerated, due to it triggering past unresolved pain Today, Tom is able to maintain calm and communicate his emotions in a more constructive way.
Case Study #2:
Emily had a tendency to bottle up her emotions, leading to sudden outbursts of anger that left her feeling ashamed and out of control. Through ISTDP, Emily learned to become more attuned to her emotions and how they affected her behaviour. Her therapist helped her identify the root causes of her anger, which included a traumatic event from her past. With time, Emily was able to process the anger form her past experience, which in turn allowed for a healthier relationship with her own anger which she could communicate in a more effective way.
If you are struggling with anger issues, know that you are not alone. There is help available through ISTDP, a therapeutic approach that has helped many others. Get in touch to book an appointment.