Anger Management Support Group

MENTAL

IMAGINATION: lOOK FOR THE HUMOR.

Anticipate the future.

LIFE PLANNING:Set clear goals. Plan the future.

OORGANIZING: Take charge. Make order. Don't let things pile up.

PROBLEM -SOLVING: Solve it yourself. Seek outside help. Tackle problems head on.

RELABELING: Change perspectives. Look for good in bad situations.

TIME ARRANGEMENT: Focus on top priorities. Work smarter, not harder.

ADDICTED TO ANGER

by Newton Hightower

Are you addicted to anger?

In the mid-1980s John Bradshaw, author of Healing the Shame That Binds You, wrote about "rageaholics," those of us who are addicted to anger and rage. The model made sense to me. I worked with rageful drug addicts and I began to think of anger as if it were a drug. As I did more reading, I found that there actually are biochemical changes in our bodies when we rage, use profanity or pound things. Those of us who rage a lot have more health problems than people who practice containing their anger. The popular psychological theories that suggested a need to express anger for mental and physical health reasons have been proven false when put under the microscope of scientific research. The more we scream and yell, the worse our health gets, the more prone we are to heart attacks and the worse our rage problem becomes.