Anger Management Therapy & Anger Management Classes
Do you or someone you love get angered easily? I offer effective help with anger management skills via individual therapy or anger management classes.
This is something I’ve had success with as a psychologist and I enjoy the process of witnessing my patients transform the way they interpret situations, the way they react and how they process their past behavior.
A Brief Guide to Therapy for Anger Management: Two Angles
My approach to helping you control your anger involves two separate but related interventions.
From one side, we work on mental obstacles that prevent accountability and personal responsibility. We examine the roots of anger and how situations are interpreted to promote extreme reactions.
From the other side, we take a skills approach to reducing angry reactions. We identify triggers and ways to be prepared for them. I teach concrete, in-the-moment anger management tools to use when triggered. These tools are usually the most powerful form of help as reported by patients who have worked with me. My anger management techniques are primarily guided by a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) standpoint.
The Best Part of Learning to Control Your Anger
With me as your CBT therapist, you’ll learn to reinterpret triggering events and you’ll have a new toolkit of techniques to use in order to prevent extreme anger reactions.
These positive changes in how you control your anger usually only require about 5-8 sessions. When there are other significant mental health issues involved, such as depression, anxiety or a personality disorder, lasting change can take longer to achieve in therapy.
However, notable changes usually occur after about 3-5 sessions.
The best part of learning to control your anger is that you get to enjoy life much more. The truth is that when you can respond appropriately to your triggers, life feels lighter. Since you don’t get worked up in the same way, you spend more time feeling calm and free to enjoy life.
12 Questions to Consider If You Want to Control Your Anger
Below you’ll find some questions to consider when you’re having difficulty managing your anger. These are just a starting point. We can go over the answers to these questions if you find it helpful. Otherwise, they are simply for your consideration.
1. How motivated am I to improve my anger?
2. How much am I being forced into getting help versus truly wanting it for myself?
3. How much responsibility and ownership do I accept for the problems in my life versus blaming and seeing others as the problem? (Put another way…..) Do I blame people for my problems as a way to justify my anger?
4. How much do I truly believe the world owes me something?
5. Do I think it’s my job to teach people a lesson when they act in a way I think is unacceptable?
6. Under what circumstances do I remain respectful and calm when people push my buttons?
7. Who is paying the biggest price for my anger issues?
8. How much do my worst angry outbursts coincide with times when I feel more depressed than usual?
9. Do I minimize the pain my anger is causing others and myself?
10. Have I ever learned to control my anger before? Who were my early role models for how to handle anger?
11. What would life be like if I could respond differently to people who upset me?
12. (If you’re a parent) How am I modeling anger for my children? Do I own the price they’ll pay for how I display anger?
These questions can give you a jumpstart for gaining greater control of your anger via CBT therapy with a psycologist.
All the best,
Gregory Kushnick, Psy.D.
138 West 25th St., Suite 802-B4, New York, NY 10001
Tel. 917-566-7312