What is anger? Anger is an emotion. It’s not unlike happiness, sadness or fear, which all serve important purposes. So anger management is, at its core, simply the management of the emotions.

Humans have developed anger emotion to protect themselves in threatening situations. Unlike fear which tells you to hide or run away, anger helps you “stand up for yourself”. It gives you the courage to let others know that they are violating your personal boundaries. Anger, in and of itself, is not a “bad” emotion, far from it. But what we do with our anger can hurt others or ourselves. And that’s when we need to learn to manage it more effectively.

Granite Recovery Centers uses Dialectical behavior therapy to help you learn to more effectively manage your anger and what you do when you feel anger.

 

What Is Anger Management?

Anger management teaches you the skills you need to effectively use anger and your other emotions as the tools that they are to promote wellness and fulfilling life. Anger management is not learning to suppress emotions or deny your feelings. Rather, anger management gives you a richer understanding of what anger is and how to use it effectively.

When you use anger as it’s intended to be used you actually find that you feel less “angry”. You learn to communicate with people and take smart actions before a little anger turns into that overwhelming “rage” feeling.

 

How Is Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Used to Manage Anger

Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) is a form of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT is a general term for therapies that identify negative habits and thoughts that aren’t serving you. You can then replace them with healthier thoughts and habits.

DBT specifically focuses on the emotional aspects of those habits because emotions can be very powerful. And if you’re not aware of how powerful they are, they will compel you to do things you wouldn’t or shouldn’t do. DBT is an evidence-based treatment that can help you:

• Reduce suicidal thoughts
• Improve your chances of successfully completing addiction treatment
• Improve your chances of staying in recovery after treatment
• Enhance social function and human connection

DBT has proven highly effective in the treatment of mood disorders, eating disorders, PTSD and addiction.

DBT is made up of four pillars:

• Mindfulness, living in the current moment rather than overly focusing on the past or future
• Distress tolerance, recognizing that stress is a normal part of life and learning how to respond productively when feeling distressed
• Emotion regulation, where you learn to listen more effectively to what your emotions are telling you so that you can respond in healthy ways
• Interpersonal effectiveness, which enhances your communication skills and ability to connect with others

You’ll learn and practice these skills in several settings, such as group, individual and family therapy.

How Anger Management Helps Those Struggling with Addiction

Physical dependence is definitely a strong driver toward continued use. But once you detox, mental and emotional factors take over. Many people turn to substances to block out painful emotions and trauma. When you manage those emotions like anger more effectively, you no longer see substances as the only way to relieve these feelings.

You now have more productive tools to prevent relapse. You’re aware of the power of emotions to compel you. So you can now choose your response rather than being controlled.

On top of that, because of your enhanced interpersonal skills, you can now connect more meaningfully with those who support your decision to stay on the road to recovery.

How Granite Incorporates Anger Management Into Addiction Treatment

Granite uses DBT and other evidence-based treatments to help you learn to manage anger and your addiction in the full continuum of care. Granite Recovery Centers provides medical detoxification for people who do not need immediate medical intervention, are not a danger to themselves, and are capable of self-evacuation in the event of an emergency. Our full continuum of care includes:

• Medical Detox
• Primary residential treatment
• Extended care
• Structured sober living
• Intensive Outpatient (IOP)

Granite Recovery takes a holistic approach to help you manage your addiction. Because of that, we complement evidence-based treatments to activities like animal therapy, paintball, and mini-golf to help you develop and practice skills in multiple settings and in multiple ways. We treat you as a whole person and teach you how to manage addiction from multiple angles.

Are you tired of letting anger control your life? We can help you reclaim your emotions. Call us at (855) 712-7784 to speak with a caring addiction professional.