Virtual Therapy to Keep Anger at Bay

Highlights:

Four weeks of online counseling can help people who are prone to anger
In the ‘anger study,’ two emotion management strategies were investigated: mindful emotion awareness and cognitive reappraisal //
The combination therapy resulted in significantly reduced levels of outward rage expression when compared to mindfulness-based emotion awareness or cognitive reappraisal alone

A new study from Sweden’s Karolinska Institute’s Center for Psychiatry Research demonstrates that four weeks of therapy delivered via the internet can help people with rage and violence. The findings were reported in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. Anger management issues can have serious effects on the individual and their loved ones.

The study, coined as the ‘anger study’ by the researchers, is the first to examine various internet-mediated emotion regulation tactics against anger. The findings are predicted to be significant in understanding emotion regulation and disseminating evidence-based strategies.

Dealing with Anger
Anger management has become one of the daily life essentials today. Coping with anger is not tough and this can be done with the help of anger management techniques as suggested by a psychologist.

‘The lifetime prevalence of anger in the general population was estimated to be 7.81%. The odds of anger were significantly higher in men, but as per research, internet-mediated emotion regulation tactics against anger can help in managing anger issues.’

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Why Should You Manage Your Anger?

We’ve all experienced fury, whether as a fleeting annoyance or as full-fledged rage. Anger is a fully normal and, in most cases, healthy human emotion. However, when it becomes destructive and out of control, it can cause problems at work, in personal relationships, and the general quality of your life.

Anger management is intended to lessen both your emotional feelings and the physiological stimulation caused by anger. You can’t get rid of, ignore, or change the things or people who irritate you, but you can learn to control your reactions ().

Test Your Knowledge on Anger Management
Everyone gets angry; it is a normal emotion that cannot be completely avoided. However, it is important to recognize if you have problems controlling your anger. Most people instinctively think that they do not have anger issues and that their anger is “justified”. This unhealthy perspective can lead a person to behave irrationally and hurt those around them and may even cause physical harm to themselves or others. Scientists who researched the effects of anger found that angry people are more likely to make risky decisions and ignore danger signs.

Recruiting Participants

“Recruiting subjects for treatment research is typically quite challenging. However, it was relatively simple for the anger study, and we had to close the recruitment site after a few weeks due to a large number of candidates. This shows that there is an unmet demand for anger management therapy. Many people who have anger issues feel ashamed, and we believe the internet format suits this group particularly well because they don’t have to wait in a reception room or sit face-to-face with a therapist and talk about their anger,” says Johan Bjureberg, assistant professor at Karolinska Institute and researcher responsible for the study, which was conducted in collaboration with researchers at Orebro University in Sweden.

The anger study looked at two emotion management strategies: mindful emotion awareness and cognitive reappraisal. The ability to observe and accept one’s feelings and ideas without judging or acting on them is important to mindful emotion awareness. Cognitive reappraisal, on the other hand, is concerned with the ability to reinterpret thoughts and situations and identify alternative beliefs that do not elicit unpleasant sensations.

The 234 individuals were randomized to either mindfulness-based emotion awareness, cognitive reappraisal, or a combination of these two treatments for four weeks. All treatments were around the same length and were related to lower self-reported anger and aggressiveness at the end.

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Combination Therapy is Most Effective

When compared to attentive emotion awareness or cognitive reappraisal alone, the combined therapy resulted in significantly lower levels of outward anger expression, aggressiveness, and anger rumination, but not anger suppression. The combination was especially useful for those who were angry at the outset of the research. The findings back up previous research and ideas that show that problems regulating emotions and perceiving events and situations can be major contributors to anger management issues.

“Our results suggest that a very short treatment of only four weeks administered over the internet with minimal therapist support is effective in reducing anger problems. We hope that follow-up studies will support this finding and that the treatment can be offered broadly within regular care,” explains Johan Bjureberg.

Anger is relatively prevalent and is related to high rates of psychopathology, a history of traumatic events in one’s life, and psychosocial impairment. As we get a better scientific understanding of its frequency and distribution in the population, the development of effective screening tools and early intervention strategies for angry people may assist a huge portion of the general population, particularly young adults.

Reference:

Prevalence and correlates of anger in the community: results from a national survey - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25831968/)

Source-Medindia

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