Anger Management: A Mindfulness-Based Approach

This paper explores how an individual can go through a process of anger management using mindfulness. The client for this therapy is a twenty year old university female student who has had several episodes of violent anger. Through a process of self-evaluation, the sufferer is assisted to understand that she can control her anger through self-awareness. The sufferer is taken through a group therapy and through simulation she is able to confront her emotions. The results of this study are helpful for individuals who struggle with violent outbursts of anger.

Running head: ANGER MANAGEMENT 1
Title of the Paper
Name
Institutional Affiliation

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Abstract
A developed a program to manage anger with a process of mindfulness. This paper explores how
an individual can go through a process of anger management. This process can be customized to
specific individuals. The client for this therapy is a twenty year old university female student
who has had several episodes of violent anger. Through a process of self-evaluation, the sufferer
is assisted to understand that she can control her anger through self-awareness. The sufferer is
taken through a group therapy and through simulation she is able to confront her emotions. The
results of this study are helpful for individuals who struggle with violent outbursts of anger.
Introduction
Anger is a destructive emotion that can cause harm to both the individual and the
environment in which a person live. Several techniques have been suggested to manage anger
but most of them only yield temporary results. Anger management is part of emotional health
and requires long term solutions (McMahon, 2018). Mindfulness is a technique that has been
proven to yield sustainable results. Scholars opine that anger has to run its full course before it
can fully subside. In this connection, individuals can understand and manage the emotion of
anger through mindfulness. People must learn understand the triggers to their anger in order to
successfully manage the emotion.
Mindfulness is an exercise where individuals deliberately pay attention to their thought
process, emotions and sensitivities with a non-judgmental attitude. According to Dariotis et al.
(2016) individuals can correctly identify anger triggers like irritations and annoyances, activities

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that portray disrespect, frustrations and disappointment or even environments where an
individual feels unjustly treated through mindfulness.
Individuals must identify the impulse that comes before their bout of anger. It is
considered that there is always an impulse that precedes anger which may range from body
sensations or a specific thought pattern (Roberts, Strayer and Denham, 2014). Some of the
common impulses include raising ones voice and a change of tone either to a high pitch or
incoherence. DiGiuseppe, Barnea, Duke, Murphy & Brewer, 2017, propose that some people
adopt stone walling while others experience bodily sensations like feeling hot and experiencing
tension in the neck area. Thought processes associated with anger include fantasizing on how to
revenge and continuously thinking about the source of the anger (Scott et al., 2015). Awareness
of the anger is a critical step in the anger management process which leads to impulse control.
(DiGiuseppe, Barnea, Duke, Murphy & Brewer, 2017).
Impulse control enables an individual to adequately respond in an anger situation rather
than react. Clients can respond differently to anger triggers based on the nature and magnitude of
the cause. Anger dumpers are used maintain calm through a breathing technique (Viafora,
Mathiesen and Unsworth, 2015). The individual must be mentally prepared to stay calm despite
of the intensity of the feeling. Individuals can also use anger with holders. The aim of this
technique is to enable the individual to maintain presence in the face of anger triggers through
activities like a self-hug or gripping the opposite forearm in each hand and kneading the skin
(Contractor, Armour, Wang, Forbes & Elhai, 2015). In mindfulness, it is important for the
individual to realize that thoughts precede feelings; it is what an individual thinks about the
trigger that leads to feelings of anger.

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Methods
It was the matter of self-control program and the target of the therapy is a twenty year old
female university student who experiences violent anger expressions. A purposive sampling
technique was used to identify the student on voluntary participation method for the two
consecutive weeks. In the first week, the student was taken through a mindfulness process as a
baseline condition where she was tasked to identify the feelings associated with anger. The
student initially found it difficult to distinguish between the anger and the emotions that precede
the anger. However, a thorough examination and the guidance of a therapist were used to set goal
for the coming week. It was found that she was able to identify both thought processes and body
impulses that signal the eruption of anger (Scott et al., 2015). The goal was set for the following
week and consequently, she was able to identify gritting of teeth and twitching of the muscles in
the upper arm as common bodily responses to the anger. If the goal was touched for that day I
allowed myself to go for shopping as a positive reinforce. Moreover, if I met each daily goal
designated for the complete week than I would reward myself with five short games of subway
surfer.
The several techniques to anger management were considered and it was agreed that
group therapy would be ideal for the present case. The student was initially given reading
material on forgiveness before engaging in a back to back session with the therapist where he
was sensitized on the benefits of letting go of their anger through forgiveness. The client was
then exposed to a discussion group where a variety of discussion topics on sensitive matters were
undertaken under the guidance of the therapist. She was then required to write forgiveness letters
to the objects of her anger including a parent and a lecturer. The reactions of the client with

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every activity were measured by the use of the Dimensions of Anger Reaction-5 both before and
after the therapy.

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Results
Test Question Score on the Linkert scale
Before Therapy After Therapy
Reaction immediately to anger
stimulus
1 4
Understanding and management
of pre-anger emotions
5 1
Alternative ways to express
anger emotions
1 4
Verbalize feelings of anger as a
management strategy
3 5
Forgiven herself and other
persons
3 4
Scale
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree

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The above data reveals the difference between before and after startegy. There has been significant
differences between both the stages of the student. The major reaction of the reaction to anger
stimulus was realised after the therapy. The understanmding and the management of the pre-anger
emotions are reduced appropriately wheras the alternative ways to express anger emotions were
increased after the therapy. The therapy bring the significant results in verbalizing feeling of anger and
forgiveness.
Discussion
An assessment of the client after the intervention revealed that she had improved in her
anger management. On the parameter of reactivity in anger situations, it was noted that the client
performed poorly before the intervention and was able to control the emotion after therapy. The
results of the anger therapy reveal that the student adequately managed her anger by
understanding aspects her anger. Previously, the client thought that her anger was uncontrollable
but through therapy, she was able to do a self assessment and understood the emotions associated

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with anger and found alternative ways to vent them. Another important technique the client
learnt was that by speaking about her anger, she was able to control better without avoiding the
emotion. Verbalization of anger is an important strategy because it enables individuals to let go
the emotion (Watson, Rapee and Todorov, 2017). Forgiveness also worked to control the
expressions of her anger. People who violently express their anger often have little self-esteem
because of self-condemnation (Frenzel, Pekrun, Götz & Durksen, 2015).
The student exercised mindfulness in order to pay attention to the thought process. It
helped in identifying anger triggers such as irritations, annoyances, frustrations and
disappointment. The thought process associated with the anger helped to identify the source of
the anger (Swartz, Seeley, Gau, Singer & Schroeder, 2016). The anger awareness is a critical
step which leads to the impulse control. The impulse control helped student to respond
adequately in the anger situation than react. The purposive sampling technique showed better
results in identifying the student on the voluntary participation method. It helped student to find
out the difference between anger and the emotions which precede anger. The techniques of the
anger management considered ideal for the therapy.
The emotion of anger can be managed through professional therapy. Through the practice
of mindfulness can help individuals live more fulfilled lives. Proper management of anger
enables individuals to form healthy relationships in society and boosts their self esteem.
Professionals must sensitize society about anger management techniques to enable individual
and collective quality of life.

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