Anger is usually a very fast totally automatic response and those clients with anger management issues discover that because it is an emotional response, no amount of analysing the "whys" of the behaviour actually assist in creating different outcomes. The triggers for this kind of behaviour can be many and as varied as the wide range of clients who exhibit this behaviour. Often the anger is directed at one or a specific set of individuals and it's easy to identify a clear pattern in what is happening to create and maintain these not useful behaviours. I see a lot of clients with this problem and many clients have status issues and endlessly refer to how they believe others should be behaving. Many find it hard to form longstanding relationships and are very unaware of how their behaviour affects others. For this and other reasons many find themselves in financial trouble as often others keep a healthy distance, not knowing when “the volcano will next erupt!”

Anger can be resolved once a client learns how to relax in those situations that used to spark the old behaviour. Anger management problems are increasingly common and in my experience anger problems are not solved by endless analysis, but rather by learning how to think and “feel differently”. Anger management problems can then be replaced by a more appropriate calmness. Often “the sense of injustice” and their beliefs about “how people should behave” are created by how they process their own patterns of internal dialogue. The forthcoming PCW book will have a chapter on this with examples of client sessions and other examples of this behavioral problem.