Anger Management and Counseling in Arcadia, FL.

We all know what anger is, and we've all felt it; whether it's felt as a temporary annoyance or as an outright rage. Anger is a completely normal & usually healthy human emotion. It's a natural, adaptive response that incites powerful feelings & behaviors. Therefore, a certain amount of anger is necessary to our survival. But here's the catch: When anger gets out of control and becomes aggressive and/or destructive, it can lead to problems at work, in relationships, and even with your health. My goal is to help you gain control over your anger BEFORE it controls you. With professional help, you CAN learn to express your anger in assertive, healthy, & non-aggressive ways.

In my experience as an EMDR therapist, I pay close attention to the links between past and present. I’ve seen time and time again how unhealed emotional wounds resurface and come out sideways. While anger management can provide helpful strategies, they don’t get to the heart of the issue. Often, anger is what we see on the surface, but the real problem is what’s underneath the anger. Negative beliefs like “I’m helpless,” “I’m out of control,” and “I’m a failure,” start to bubble up, and anger comes to the rescue. It can get us in trouble, but at least it gets the blood pumping. With research-proven EMDR therapy, I help men heal anger at its source so it doesn’t have to be managed.

We help our clients to have greater understanding of themselves and their interactions with others to improve the quality of their relationships. We utilize mindfulness, self-exploration, and self-soothing techniques to help improve clients' emotional regulation skills. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, EMDR or ART, Trauma-Focused CBT, and Existential Therapy are especially helpful for healing trauma and improving interpersonal interactions with others.

When we believe we have been wronged, we feel entitled to our anger. But, there are many benefits to gain from being able to manage your anger well. First of all, uncontrolled anger results in poor decision making. Thus, learning to manage your anger will improve your judgment and avoid the negative consequences of impulsive actions. Moreover, learning to control your anger, helps you avoid situations that would otherwise become very stressful. It also helps you avoid conflict with co-workers, family members, parents and children. Self-control over y9our anger permits you to communicate assertively without angry behavior, and as a result you become more comfortable in y9our interpersonal

I often coach men on how to better regulate their emotions, including anger. I can teach you strategies from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, provide relationship insights from the Gottman Method, and help you practice calming strategies to take control back. You might have every right to be angry. But if it’s making things worse, it’s time for a change. At Lion Counseling, our mission is to help you escape the cages that hold you back and become the lion God created you to be.

As a culture, we do not do well with healthy expressions of anger. Often we are raised to suppress it and then we have limited practice at dealing with big emotion. There is a spectrum of healthy aggression- to keep us safe and to maintain boundaries- and rage- our body's strategy for safety. Anger management is about applying the right "dosing" to maintain boundaries yet not fracture relationships or suffer other losses. I am able to help you learn to regulate your body to be able to apply the appropriate "dose" to be effective and not destructive.

Grey Matters International and the work of Kevin J. Fleming, Ph.D approaches issues of anger management in a very humane yet fresh perspective. You see, anger is a normal emotion but it is the valence (intensity) as well as the coupling choice of what one does with this that is the problem. Telling someone to "not" do it or modifying behavior with a trite psychological plan that only breeds a compliant response is not the way to change anger. Brainwave optimization is a new cutting edge technology that allows one to rewire circuitry responsible for reactivity driving the anger. Contact Grey Matters International, Inc now at kevin@kevinflemingphd.com or 877-606-6161.