Understanding Anger

Anger isn’t right or wrong; it’s just a feeling, like happiness or sadness. Everyone experiences times when they feel angry, often for good reasons.

The reasons for feeling angry will be different for everyone. There are some brilliant videos on Young Minds about this, which you can view here.

Angry feelings can have a physical effect on your body. You may experience a rush of adrenaline, a hormone that can leave you feeling sick and light-headed. You will be aware of your heart rate increasing and your muscles tensing up.

The physical response will be different for everyone.

If you start to be aware of how your body feels when you get angry, you will start to recognise your early warning signs. Recognising these will help you understand that you’re angry and allow you to take steps to help calm yourself down.

Anger and relationships

Anger can affect your relationships. When you are angry, you may find yourself shouting or crying and doing things you wouldn’t normally do, like throwing things or attacking others. If the people around you also get upset, this can make the situation even worse. They may not understand how you’re feeling and may not know how you react.

Here are 7 ways to stop anger from running away with you.

When you feel calm again, think about what has made you angry and talk about it with someone you trust, for example a parent or teacher.

Seek more help if you are:

• Physically hurting people or yourself
• Breaking things
• Losing control
• Spending time with people who get you into trouble
• Struggling with relationships or getting into trouble at school

How to get help

If you have any more questions on this area or would like to speak to somebody about this topic, have a look at the links or search for your local services in the blue box below. Alternatively you can always contact your school nurse.

• w: Young Minds- Anger
  
• w: NHS - Anger