Anger and hostility are emotions that we all typically experience from time to time. Daily life can invoke these irritations as we struggle to find a parking spot or get to an appointment on time. The complexities of life can amplify these feelings as we try to navigate complex emotions and continue our routines. But most grown people have worked to cultivate coping tools that help keep anger in control.
This can be more difficult for teens who are still learning how to handle their emotions. If teens do not learn how to control these types of emotions as they grow into adulthood, it can take a toll on their lives and those around them. When teen anger issues drastically affect interpersonal relationships, it is important to take action to protect your family structure and your teen’s healthful growth.
Venture Academy has a teen anger management program to teach your teen how to stay in control of their emotions. We use a wide variety of therapeutic approaches, such as anger therapy, to address and improve your teen’s anger management.
Reasons for Teen Anger
Anger is often a substitute emotion for our automatic experience of pain. Teens may experience and express anger as they learn to cope with their changing environment.
A teen may experience frustration with a lack of control as they navigate their emotional growth process. Feelings of helplessness can be converted into anger to gain a sense of control. Other reasons for teen anger include:
- Hormones – The physical change that teens experience is extensive and sometimes confusing. This can mean that their body chemistry is very simply making them upset.
- Forming strong bonds and relationships – Teens tend to form more autonomy as they move away from the family structure and build new lasting relationships.
- Masking other emotions – Your teen could be using anger to cover up other emotions, such as pain, vulnerability, or sadness.
- Mental health issues – Excessive expressions of anger can indicate deeper mental health conditions that sometimes appear during this stage of life. This is a crucial reason that identifying and seeking help can be necessary if a teen’s attitudes drastically change.
Teen Anger Management Techniques
Managing anger is a skill we learn throughout our lives. A few teen anger management methods that may help your teen examine the ways that they are processing their anger include:
- Identify the obstacle – Encourage teens to ask themselves why they are angry. Finding the root problem behind their emotions can help them to analyse their reaction level.
- Your teen’s anger is typically not about you – Stay calm, and do not take your teen’s outbursts of anger as a personal affront.
- Offer positive creative or physical outlets – This can be as simple as writing down their feelings in a journal, painting, playing an instrument, or going for a run. Redirecting this extreme energy into positive expressions can help to diffuse the intensity of the emotion.
- Relaxation techniques – Relaxation techniques can be extremely productive for dissipating and redirecting emotional states. There are many different types of relaxation methods. Depending on your teen’s personality, they might fully embrace meditation practise. Perhaps they might feel silly chanting mantras on a yoga mat but would be comfortable silently counting down from twenty as they interrogate the complexity of their feelings.
While these techniques can help ease some anger issues, they may not offer the comprehensive behaviour modification needed for many situations. When anger issues are excessive or affecting your family’s day-to-day life, it may be time to look at alternative ways to offer your teen healthful coping mechanisms.
How to Help with Teen Anger Management
It can be devastating to experience teen anger extremes, but there are ways to enforce positive conduct and make productive changes. With Venture Academy’s 30-day assessment and intervention program and behaviour treatment, your teen can get a hold on anger issues so that you can get back to working together as a family with less worry.
If you are still feeling unsure, consider taking our interactive child behaviour test 866.762.2211. It only takes about five minutes of your time and may assist you in your evaluation process as you consider the best steps to take in helping your teen regain control of their anger.