Anger Management and Counseling in Morrisville, NC.

For clients who experience anger and struggle with expressing themselves in healthy ways, I help them process what is going on in their life that they believe is feeding or causing them to feel angry and help them uncover what is at the root or core of their anger. I work with clients to help them improve their coping skills and learn how to express themselves in a more assertive, safe, and respectful way with others who may also be involved in conflict with them, and help them recognize when it is time to let go and walk away from the object or source of their anger.

I understand that anger is a secondary emotion. That anger is the result of a range of primary emotions such as sadness, anxiety, or loneliness. People struggling with angry behaviors can feel stuck and hopeless. Anger reactions can occur due to specific triggers, or seemingly out of the blue. I help clients identify their anger patterns and break unhealthy cycles that have made personal and professional life difficult. Using a combination of anger management tools, cognitive and dialectical behavior therapies, I guide clients to a life free of anger outbursts and more emotional control.

Anger gets a bad reputation from the way it is misused in our lives. If you have a history of this, you are likely going to be challenged with the effective and necessary use of anger today. It is a natural feeling and a warning sign that someone has stepped on your boundaries or something is unfair. If you were to to get some help separating the feeling of anger from the way you were miss-taught about it from your past, you may have a wonderful tool to assist you in self care. You need to feel the anger to understand that you need some type of protection through assertiveness, silence, removing yourself from a situation or simply staying home instead of giving into the pressure of another.

A lack of ability to manage one’s anger can have devastating effects on a person’s life, to include intimate relationships, parenting, work, and friendships. Clients often present frustrated with themselves for this inability, but feeling unable to change what feels to them like an automatic response and a normal response to stress and annoyances. At Lepage Associates we help people recognize managing anger is a skill, and like all other skills it can be leaned with guidance and hard work. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has been the preferred method of treatment for anger for decades. Cognitively, clients are taught to become more aware of when and how their anger develops by identifying

Oftentimes my clients come in feeling like they struggle with anger management. They lose patience, snap at their partner or children, and feel generally irritable and on-edge. Sometimes they don't even know what they're angry about! I work with my clients to help them figure out what is underneath all that anger. Often anger is a response to traumas that haven't yet been resolved, so our work will center on addressing those traumas. For my ADHD and autistic clients, anger can be a sign of overstimulation. In those cases, we work on finding ways to make your environment work for you and your sensory needs. Anger can also be a sign of anxiety, which we can use relaxation skills to help.

When working with clients who struggle with managing their anger in healthy and constructive ways, I like to first educate them about feelings and the process of emotion regulation. Because anger is a secondary emotion, I strive to help my clients to understand what they are experiencing underneath their anger, and work with them to address that, which can be a helpful and effective way for them to experience their emotions in a more healthy and appropriate way. I also like to teach coping skills so that my clients have more healthy ways of addressing their anger in the moment.

Difficulties managing anger can deeply damage relationships. Intimate partners are especially vulnerable to the effects of anger. If your relationship has been damaged by anger problems, or your arguments have become alarming to you, don't wait to get help. Learn how to argue without damaging the relationship. Learn what helps when an argument crosses the line. Counseling can help you stop the damage to your relationship.

My approach to anger management includes a thorough psychiatric assessment, as well as ongoing self-monitoring with an anger journal. Clients learn to recognize their own unique early warning signs of anger [self-talk, physical cues] and high risk situations that evoke anger. Clients learn coping skills including relaxation, coping self-talk and assertiveness training.

Anger is often a misunderstood emotion and often looked at as more negative than positive. In applying cognitive behavioral approaches to developing a healthy use and control of anger, therapy will support you in not suppressing anger but recognizing the difference between healthy and unhealthy anger and regaining your mastery over this complex emotion. Often this leads to overall better self understanding and increased confidence as well as improved personal and professional relationships.