Anger can be one of the most challenging emotions that we work with.
Clients are sometimes afraid of their anger. Or, maybe they consider it inappropriate to even feel this way at all.
Not only that, when anger is misdirected, it often leads to poor choices, damaged relationships, and even violence.
But anger can actually be an asset to our clients . . . as long as it’s channeled properly.
So how can we help clients express their anger more effectively?
It begins by helping them understand how anger is triggered, and what happens in the body and brain – especially when anger is chronic or unprocessed.
So we thought it would be helpful for you to have a way to illustrate this for your clients. (And please feel free to make a copy of this to share with them.)
Click the image to enlarge
If you’d like to print a copy to share with your clients, just click here: Color or Print-friendly
(When you make copies to share, please be sure to include the copyright information. We put a lot of work into creating these resources for you. Thanks!)
For more practical tools and strategies to help clients manage anger, have a look at this short course featuring Stephen Porges, PhD; Marsha Linehan, PhD; Peter Levine, PhD; Ron Siegel, PsyD; Pat Ogden, PhD; and other top experts.
Now we’d like to hear from you. How will you use this in your work with clients? Please leave a comment below.
Thank you, this is very useful. I will most certainly be sharing with my clients.
I am going to be doing a presentation on “Working with Unreasonable People” for the Virginia chapter of the International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals on 4/21/17, so I am reviewing this handout as a nice review–and perhaps to make into a handout for attendees, though I have not concluded my prep yet. Good to get back to those important basics. Thank you for your communications. Pat Eby
I am deeply concerned about the lack of context for this infographic — to whom does it apply and to whom it does not apply? Is this applicable for those with chronic anger and/or anger management issues? for those who regularly rage? OR is it applicable or generalizable across the board, in every instance?
I think this is a really important distinction, please clarify in a future email or posting or video, so this infographic can be applied in the most helpful and healthful ways and is not misunderstood or misapplied.
Also, I’m not clear on the purpose of this infographic? Is it to shut down anger (which can be a concern if anger is simply repressed instead of processed in healthy ways)? Is it to help process anger? If so, how does this help process anger?
Many thanks for any clarifications you can offer.
Wonderful resource and now a usable and printable copy – Good job!
Really useful tool for helping clients understand why they lose judgement and memory when they lose their cool. Thank you.
I will incorporate it into the yoga/meditation classes i teach, thank you!
Many thanks- I have teens who are keen to demystify why they feel so intensely
my drawing ability is limited- this is wonderful ! Many thanks Ruth and team
I teach a free intro workshop about how states of mind affect the overall health and I am planning to use your diagram on my power point.. thank you.. very helpful…
Some of my clients have had their self-esteem lowered and, generally, messed up, when their chemical use got out of control. ‘Beating yourself up’ is part of the downward spiral… I’d show my clients this diagram & use it when I do holistic mapping of the processes I think will be helpful to get them to become more functional. I’m ambivalent about anger: I find it can be sometimes helpful as a motivator (like, ‘going into attack mode when you begin the items on the ‘to do’ list’) since anger can sometimes be more productive than procrastination, fear, and just plain sitting there in the swamp of your misery and crappy memories.
Very nice and very accurate. Applies to a lot more than anger as well. Thanks for putting this together. Nice to have.
Super handouts! I will definitely use these with my angry, stressed and traumatized clients!
excellent
Thank you
much appreciated
This is very helpful and in formative , thank you so much .
Thank you for the handout. It will be helpful to some of my clients.
Can’t wait to use!
I think that if clients understand their anger they hopefully will be able to control it better
This info-graph is incorrect. Anger is a healthy emotion like all emotions. However ANY emotion that is not processed and regulated can cause psychological or physiological symptoms. The symptoms are NOT as a result of the emotion, but as a result of not being able to process the emotion. If we do not differentiate this to clients we run the risk of teaching that is not safe or healthy to have or express anger. Furthermore, as a specialist in emotional root-cause-analysis of symptoms, this info-graph is a generalisation that may cause fear or victim concepts in clients who have anger issues – it’s based on generalised information often presented as a result of studies showing CORRELATION NOT CAUSATION.
Thank you for sharing your perspective, Sami. You’ve pinpointed the discomfort I’ve had with this information, too. I find this infographic — while informative — does paint a negative picture of anger and could even produce a lot of anxiety in people about anger. I can understand the negative effects in someone who has chronic anger, or who uses anger as their basic coping mechanism. And yes, for some, this information might motivate making some changes, simply by triggering more fear than anger. I wish the distinction was made regarding exactly what type or degree of anger this negative cascade applies to.
I’m certainly not sure how this applies to what I call healthy anger that comes to us all on occasion and for good reasons (eg., when our boundaries are crossed). Anger can bring energy, clarity, focus, purpose, courage, determination and strength, too. It can have positive outcomes when understood, processed and directed appropriately. I agree anger has important messages to give us that we need to hear, even for those who are caught up in chronic anger. Let’s hear those messages.
Thank you to both Sami and Tamara. You have some very good points here which have been omitted and with which I completely agree and can relate to. Many comments have been helpful here to find ways to cope with this (showing love and compassion, prayers, and self-soothing, using self-regulating tools.) though.
Excellent information. Thank you!
Thank you for all you do. i would also appreciate an info graphic on healthy expression of anger, timing issues and what happens as anger is repressed.
I’d be very interested in that, too, Susan. Yes, let’s learn the difference between healthy and unhealthy anger, and the different ways anger is expressed.
This is an excellent way to show how anger affects your brain and body. It will help to show clients the importance of challenging their anger appropriately. Learning that anger is harmful for them. Thanks for sharing.
This is something I can share everyday in practice. This is easy for clients to understand.
Thankyou for this fabulous print-out. I will keep it on my wall in my psychotherapy/clinical hypnotherapy practice to explain to my patients.
From my years of teaching, I realise that many people are VISUAL learners and this diagram will help enormously whilst I’m explaining the effects of anger/stress on your body and how the brain processes it.
I’m seeing far too many children suffering with anxiety right now so I can only hope that even the youngies can visualise how to let it go. Thankyou once again.
Lynette Courtney BA Welfare, BSocSce (Psychol)., Graduate Diploma (Psychology), BTeaching,
NLP, Ego State (Parts Therapy), Neurofeedback.
I don’t think this PDF is actually looking at anger. I think what we are looking at here is a brain’s response to an emotion based on it guessing what actions we might need our body to take. We are learning more and more that there is no such thing as a stress hormone.
Further, there are similarities and statistical norms that emerge as patterns in the brain as it does its thing. Which is why we make the common mistake of saying our amygdala (the reptilian brain…shame on you for continuing this outdated science in a sneaky way.) Emotions simply make meaning for us and then we get to decide how to respond to what is meaningful for us. Over time we can make shifts in our responses to emotions which will shift how our brain decides which chemicals and hormones to release to make necessary changes in our bodies so we can take action-or not-around what is meaningful to us.
I also feel like this handout leaves people thinking that anger is something that needs to go away. It is the one emotion that helps us construct the dance steps so that we can dance together without stepping on one another’s toes too many times. Where would we be without anger? I think we end up in the exact cycle you are representing in this diagram if we continue to teach people that anger is negative and not needed.
Our repeated responses to anger may be what we are looking to change to make the chemical shift in our body different and this diagram does not do a good job of illustrating that point.
I guess I would use this handout to show how we used to think about emotions and as a conversation starter around new ways to view emotions, the responses we have to them, and how we can architect our experience to align with how we long for it to truly be.
What we feel in our body (the chemical shifts you speak of) is separate from the meaning our emotions make out of all the input hitting our brain all of the hours we are awake. I’d possibly use it to highlight that.
Well said Andrea! Thank you for saying better what I wanted to say!
Thanks to you both for providing important additional information!
I’m a fan of that archaic / disproved reptilian brain notion… when I’m lucky I’ll be working with someone with a sense of humor and ‘reptilian brain’ is fun. Like, it’s an opportunity to imagine Godzilla stomping on Tokyo, and the ‘client’ and I will do a little stomp dance then imagine representations of the ‘issues’ which Godzilla is stomping. Part of being well-bred is about being ‘nice’ – and nice people don’t get angry. By the way, I’m in the Upper Midwest here, where Minnesota Nice is still somewhat of a thing ( but for people, maybe, over 50). The Lutheran Postulated Supernatural Entity likes cleanliness and order. Gotta rock with that!
New essential information. Thank you!
How we can control our Anger
I think NICABM is an excellent source of cutting edge theory and practice interventions…and I am loving being a Next Level Practitioner member…..however I wish to make one criticism of this handout……it excellently describes a rage process not an anger process…..I am author of ‘Anger, Rage & Relationship: An Empathic Approach to Anger Management’ (2008, Routledge). My contribution to our profession has been to differentiate between anger and rage, to thoroughly define them as different psychological phenomena with different purposes, processes, origins in terms of developmental stages and therapeutic needs….within psychology anger and rage have been conflated which I think is confusing for practitioners and clients alike….the psychology discipline has traditionally placed anger and rage on a continuum with mild irritation at one end and homicidal violence at the other….I have identified anger as a mild startle response and defined it functions as a ‘processing emotion’, operating within the window of tolerance to ‘facilitate the process of individuation… thereafter… constitutes the life-long guardian of an individual’s integrity through the practice of assertiveness; it signals the presence of a disturbance in the immediate environment that needs addressing and provides the energy to take the necessary action; it is both…immediate and proportionate…to the here-and-now situation, is only ever respectful, bears no malice to self or others and, if expressed or harnessed for action, is frequently cleared in less than five minutes’.
Rage, on the other hand is a trauma related defence mechanism; ‘a primitive, unconsciously controlled mechanism that is employed when an organism is emotionally overwhelmed; it is an experience processing difficulty’. It functions outside the window of tolerance. Hot rage (above the window of tolerance) is ‘a mass of raw, undifferentiated and uncontained emotion seeking expression’; Cold rage (below the window of tolerance) ‘….the laying down or calcification of life experience that cannot be processed’ which involves suppressing or dissociating from emotional experience.
Once practitioners and clients can differentiate between anger and rage, confusion disappears and anger can be encouraged, supported and expressed and rage can be transformed through learning how to identify discrete emotions, to find words for them and to express them.
I hope this is helpful.
Quite helpful and an important distinction that I have sought to make with my beloved who has suppressed anger all her life for lack of the differentiated effects in the continuum. Please continue this work which probably has measured ANS responses and perhaps varied anatomical participation. It is essential to a healthy self image and development, preventing abusive treatment. Norman Rosenthal, M.D. in Emotional Revolution has a chapter 9 on the subject; while, Bessel Van der Kolk in The Body Keeps the Score implicitly treats this distinction but with clearer self effect discussion.
I’m curious how you define a “discrete” emotion. I’m failing to see the difference from what you described about about people placing anger and rage on a continuum of the same emotion.
Wouldn’t a discrete emotion be low on the continuum of the same emotion? Are you teaching people to identify things that anger them when they are in a discrete state vs heightened state?
Again, I think we are speaking about 2 completely different things:
1. Emotions
2. Response to Emotions
3. How do we architect our experience to be in alignment of how we long for it to be?
I’d be curious to hear your thoughts.
Hello Andrea, thank you for your curiosity and the opportunity to explain what I mean by a discrete (the ‘distinct’ or ‘separate’ sense of the word) emotion……..I come from a relational and integrative psychotherapy perspective….my understanding is that our earliest way of experiencing the world are the binaries of pleasure or pain (Freud), we feel OK or not OK….I can tell when folk are stuck at this developmental stage because they have little or no language for their feelings….typically, when you ask “how are you?” they will reply ‘fine’ or ‘sh**’…..they can’t identify discrete emotions (I also call them differentiated or processing emotions).
In my view, the ability to experience, identify and express discrete / differentiated / processing emotions develops can only occur with the support of an emotionally intelligent and attuned other, ideally within infancy. Once developed, this capacity helps us in two ways.
Firstly, they support us to make sense of our immediate environment, orient us to a situation, take actions to help ourselves (or others) and generally take care of ourselves e.g.
– cry or seek comfort if we have experienced a loss or disappointment
– feel anger if we need to set a boundary or take a self-protective action,
– feel fear if we need to protect ourselves, get more information, accept another’s help…..
Secondly and equally as important, discrete / differentiated / processing emotions help us transform our archaic experience, life events which we have previously experienced but couldn’t process at the time because we didn’t have the emotional means to do so……I define trauma simply as ‘any emotional response to life experience, whether of epic or apparently trivial proportions, which has not yet been processed’.
From my perspective, when we are experiencing discrete / differentiated / processing emotions we
– are in the processing emotion zone which I liken to Dan Segal’s ‘window of tolerance’ and
– process life experiences in the moment, as they occur and also older life experiences as they surface in the moment.
I hope this makes things clearer Andrea. Thank you again for your reply.
Dan Seigel, sorry for misspelling
Thank you, Sue and Andrea, for this additional conversation.
I found this fascinating and totally agree about the importance of distinguighing/delineating discrete emotional states (both from my studies and from how what Sue has explained resonates with my own experience of life and processing life’s experiences).
As for the continuum or spectrum of anger-related emotions, I think if we call on personal experience, we have all had times when we recognize a line has been crossed from one state (irritation) to another (anger or rage) and how very different that can be, how things escalate or de-escalate.
Thanks again, Sue! This has been very enlightening and clarifying and useful for me.
Hi,
This is a very revealing infographic. I will certainly SHARE this (giving you full credit of course) with my clients.
What a useful tool! At Quest Healing Retreats, we often work with folks who have ANGER MANAGEMENT issues and your infographic is a great way to demonstrate the effects of anger outbursts. It also helps take the shame and blame out of difficulties with anger episodes.
We find that most people who have anger management issues have various forms of developmental trauma, including abuse and neglect. Some of these early experiences stem from turmoil in the family where abuse of a parent or sibling is repeatedly witnessed, where one or more parent is abusing alcohol and, of course, direct verbal and/or physical abuse to the child.
When we can understand the physical effects you outline here as well as the effects of parent’s angry outbursts, it helps tremendously in treatment. As you have demonstrated elsewhere, the effects of neglect and abuse are not life sentences. With experiences of safety, opportunity to tell and experience our story and having this witnessed by a “caring other” is what takes us from coping with anger issues to actually healing and changing those impulses from the inside.
THANK YOU for your important work. Our participants at Quest Retreats continue to benefit!! 😉
Hi, I teach skills/psycoeducation class to youth and parents at a child advocacy center. The class covers brain development, feelings, etc. Your info will enhance understanding. Great work!!!
Awesome visual. I might use the PDF when explaining to my clients the mechanism and impact of stress on our mind and body. Thanks. Al
Really terrific ! Thank you – will use this in presentations
This helped me to understand why my mother and people like her can’t be hopeful for a better future. Knowing her negativity is physiological helps me to be more compassionate and not try to get her to see “the bright side” which she never sees.
Very interesting and easy to read. I am a lay person and found it very informative. This is good information to know.
It helps me know myself. knowledge is “power”. To become aware of how we function gives us a reason to pause and choose rather than just react. Anger is only one letter from d anger.
Helps clients mAke good choices
I use information to help clients mAke good intentional choices. I believe that is the basis of empowerment
Good am,
Am presenting myself Mathieu and I want to thank you for taking the intiative to create this wonderful descriptive, illustrative and very interesting document.
Continue your great mission, educatiing and teaching us.
Best regards Mathieu.
I’m adding my voice to the chorus of thank-you’s, Ruth, as this is very useful information. I am also grateful to many of those who responded (Cate, Joanne Jaworski, Norman Brown and reply by Kathy, Andrea Mock, Val Liveoak and Kathy Digitale) and presented an extended perspective of this process that focuses on the positive aspect and treatment of anger. Although that was missing from the above presentation, perhaps NICABM will be getting to that in a future email?
Thanks for this clarification of the effects of anger
I work counselling primary school children. I use a jigsaw of the brain and explain and this works really well and helps to reduce shame for anger outbursts, and increases self compassion and understanding.
I really like your summary that gives more information and the visuals that I can use. The children are very curious and like the real scientific words that are on the jigsaw and make some surprising comments and insights. I also use the words wizard and lizard brain to help explanation.
Alison, is it possible for you to share where you found your jigsaw of the brain? And specifically what part of the brain do you refer to when you’re explaining about the “lizard brain” to children? Many thanks,
jude mccormick
Thank you for allowing the chart , explaining the biochemical -physiological response of Anger as a very valuable emotion in our body, for us to be used for the benefit of our patients.
we owe you.
Thank you! Making the path of anger visual is a great tool to understand anger.
Thank you! What a clear visual presentation on this important topic. I will use this with my clients who are struggling with their anger. Happy to credit NICABM for this resource.
Thank you for putting this informative chart together. I use visual aids frequently with clients, and I think this will be particularly helpful for the clients I have who struggle with anger management.
I teach a course Inter and Intra Personal Development to Social Work students at the University of Aruba. One of the inter personal skills taught is anger management. I will use the chart as it provides a clear summary of the role of the brain. Thanks.
Thank you Ruth. A great visual tool.
I work in a drug and alcohol centre as a counsellor and group facilitator. I will use this in conjunction with my Anger work shop and when working with families. I also work in the classroom with children as a mindfulness coach so this will come in handy for all aspects of my work. Thank you.
Great Resource THANK YOU!!
Do you have a similar handout for anxiety please.
The beauty of this detailed explanation is that we can do something about it. That’s the good news.
Great clear summary.