You may want to consider learning more about your anger if more than two of the following statements apply to you.

• I had trouble on the job because of my temper.
• I often get upset.
• I find it hard to forgive someone who has done me wrong.
• I get angry to get what I want.
• When I was growing up, my parents didn't handle their anger in an appropriate way.
• I feel more powerful when I am angry.
• I often get frustrated so badly that I cannot put it out of my mind.
• While driving, I feel "road rage" several times a week.
• Anger is causing problems with my relationships.

Mild, Moderate, Severe - Is your anger a mild, moderate, or severe problem?

Mild - Anger is normal; everyone experiences anger. Mild anger is used to express strong emotions, help us deal with difficult situations, and help protect us from harm. This type of anger is often described as "annoyance", "irritation", and "displeasure".

Moderate - When anger creates trouble in your life ( with relationships, at work, with your health), it has become a problem. People with moderate anger have some ability to handle their anger, but only in certain situations. Therefore, there are times when their anger is not handled appropriately. Those with moderate anger may want to make some changes. If people around you become frightened and/or feel they cannot talk to you because you may become angry, you should definitely consider getting help to change your anger pattern.

Severe - When anger is expressed in harmful ways and / or lasts for a long period of time it will begin to adversely affect th4e quality of your life. If your anger often leads to violence or you use anger as an excuse for being abusive towards others, your anger is severe. You definitely need help to change your anger pattern. This type of anger is often described as "rage", "fury", and "extreme anger".

Each time you get angry you have a reason. The reason is very clear to you at the time of the anger. One might even call it an angry reason. This angry reason starts when you perceive something that deserves your anger. After the perception, comes arousal. Once arousal is significant, it becomes a physical demonstration. A person often feels and will tell you that the demonstration will eliminate the anger reason. Oddly enough, a process of finding an angry reason, going through arousal, and having an angry demonstration occur over and over with enough consistency and predictability that all the people in your world know when it is going to happen.

Let’s start with some general ideas. First, you are a participant in your life. In fact, everyone is participating in their life as they choose or as they perceive is required of them.

What does this mean? As long as you are living, you are engaged in the world, and with the people around you. You are a unique living person. Your feelings and responses to the world and the people around you present a picture of who you are and what you believe. It is a representation of you. This representation is made up of your experiences, and your interpretation of those experiences. Experience comes from your interactions. If you do not want or try to avoid all interactions, it is impossible.

Second, interactions operate within a range as experiences. Some of the interactions are positive, some are negative, and some are neutral. While positive interactions usually make us feel good, negative interactions are frustrating and produce other emotions. Because of positive reinforcement, people like to engage in positive experiences. These experiences are rewarding. Positive experiences make us feel good. The experiences even make us think better of ourselves. In fact, most people are hedonistic enough that if they would eliminate all negative experiences from their life and make everything either positive or neutral. Unfortunately, a mix of experiences and reactions come to us within a life. Occasionally we will get on a run or will have a large number of negatives or a large number of positive experiences. The information from these experiences tends to support or challenge the belief that we have. One issue to keep in perspective is that while these events are current each person perceives the event differently. For example, siblings and family can talk about the same event that occurred in which they all participated, but they all view it differently. This occurs when they view it as an extreme negative while others may see it as positive. This difference in perception is an interesting phenomenon. It could be that events within our life are not random. Instead, they may be a choice one makes or a response to a choice that another has made.

To close this training session and apply the above information to anger management, there appears to be a reason for way a person acts. The way a person participates with other people in the world involves reason, arousal, and demonstration. The fact that the reason, arousal, and demonstration result in anger is a product of participation within the world and between people. For each person participating in an event, the perception of that event acts as the reason for the type of participation that is made. What a person perceives to be the action they need to take under given circumstances comes either from their initiative or from their reaction to another person's initiative.

We have tried to explain in a simple format what anger is and how to recognize if you have an "anger problem". If you feel you need further assistance and would like to work on your anger issues in a constructive format we would like to suggest that you purchase the Anger Test to determine what areas you need to work on. Once you have determined those areas you can purchase the Anger Management Workbook to guide you through the process. For your convenience we offer the Anger Test and Workbook together at a reduced price.