Anger is often treated as an unhealthy or unacceptable emotion that people should aim to avoid. Yet, feeling our anger, like all emotions, provides us with valuable information. Anger is a natural and important part of being human. In this webinar, Dr. Lisa Firestone will explore how individuals can gain a deeper understanding of anger and transform their relationship with this heated emotion.
This Webinar will:
- Define anger as a basic emotional experience that can provide us with valuable information
- Discuss how anger can be both a primary emotional experience and a secondary emotion that covers over other more vulnerable emotions
- Help you understand when your anger is adaptive and when it is maladaptive
- Describe the downsides of trying to suppress anger to physical and emotional health
- Explain a method for understanding what triggers your anger
- Illustrate constructive versus destructive ways of expressing and dealing with anger
- Offer tools to help regulate, tolerate, and soothe anger
When a person fails to allow themselves to experience their anger in an open, honest, and non-judgmental way, they run the risk of allowing it to become destructive to themselves and others. Both trying to bury anger or becoming overwhelmed by it can lead to the emotion being expressed in ways that are hurtful in one’s life.
Dr. Firestone will illustrate constructive ways to handle anger by being more accepting, allowing oneself to feel it, and deciding on appropriate actions to take. She will draw upon concepts from Emotion-focused Therapy and Separation Theory to help people gain a better understanding of their relationship to anger. Finally, she will present healthy, adaptive ways to deal with anger that can help individuals to process their feelings and not feel stuck, overwhelmed, or reactive.
