Help Clients Remember Anger Coping Strategies
Coping Strategies for Anger
While in most cases it may be an unwanted and negative feeling, anger is a natural emotion that all humans experience. It’s important for people, both young and old to understand how to properly cope with anger. Without this knowledge, your clients may let this emotion negatively consume their life, relationships and health.
Evaluating Your Client's Anger Levels
Before you can begin deploying coping mechanisms that will work for your client, you’ll need to understand the level of anger your client experiences first. Use the questions/prompts below to gauge their level of anger so you can use the right coping skills to help them improve the way they manage their anger for the future.
| Anger State | Characteristics | Example of Trigger |
| Annoyed | You're bothered by an incident or situation which brings about short term tension that is more then likely to pass with time. When annoyed you internalize your feelings and keep it under wraps. | A client requests revisions to be made to your presentation |
| Frustrated | You’re feeling or expressing distress, mostly due to the inability to control a situation or achieve something. Often times this comes from someone mistreating or losing an argument/game/etc. When frustrated you keep your anger to yourself but show physical emotions of being such. | A client provides substantial negative feedback on your presentation |
| Indignation | You’re feeling mistreated or provoked which feels like unfair treatment. Petty annoyances pile up creating displeasure and irritation. When feeling indignation you can no longer internalize your anger and likely voice the emotion with gestures/yelling/vocal resentment. | A client mistreats you in front of your colleagues during a big presentationd |
| Infuriated | You’re feeling extremely angry and mad, which can come from severe impatience and annoyances stacking up or someone severely mistreating you. When you’re infuriated you are enraged with anger, which consumes your actions. | A client fires you because of a mistake your colleague made on the presentation |
| Hostile | You’re beyond angry at this point, becoming unfriendly, antagonistic and very negative to everyone around you. When your hostile you’re pessimistic, malicious and unkind. | Your colleagues points fingers at you for the mistake made on the presentation, driving your boss to put you on suspension |
How Can Coping Skills Improve Anger Management
Coping with angry emotions can be challenging for some, but your job to ensure they’re utilizing the right resources to improve. Encourage clients to understand the route of their anger, as well as what triggers each stage in order to assign the appropriate coping skills using our worksheet below. Instruct clients to revisit the exercise as often as necessary.
Recording & Storing Anger Coping Worksheets In TheraNest
TheraNest makes storing forms and worksheets easy. Scan and save the completed worksheet to your computer then upload the file to the Client’s documents in TheraNest for safe keeping. Your clients can also send their therapist completed forms as an attachment via Secure Messaging in the Client Portal. The therapist can then download the form and upload to the client’s file in TheraNest. If you don’t already have TheraNest and want to try it for free, sign-up today.
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Anger Management Resources
If you’re looking for new ideas for improving your clients’ anger management, check out these worksheets from our Anger Resource Center. Each resource is free, downloadable and encourages clients to get involved, and take control of their own mental health.
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