New Anxiety Counseling Site

I love counseling and helping people with anger management. I'm excited to announce that my new site is up and running! It's devoted to Anxiety Counseling in San Francisco and San Mateo

I hope you like it!

Anger Management: Dealing with an angry child

I was recently interviewed for an article. I hope you find it helpful!

Here is the link: Dealing with an angry child

If you are interested in the topic of anger management and children, you might also give this a read

Anger Management vs. Violence Management

Today I read this awful article about an anger management group in Washington.

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2010/10/16/Stabbing-charged-in-anger-management-class/UPI-61131287266633/

It made me think more about the stigma that surround the term "anger management"

For years, I've wrested with the idea of a calling my my groups by a different name. I describe them to colleagues as "Anger Skills Groups". Most people think of them as anger management groups. Many people are suprised when they learn that most of the men and women in my groups are don't have reputations for being angry. In fact, they often talk about how shocked their friends are to learn that they are in an "anger management group". The anger and frustration that shows up in their primary relationships does not arise in their social or work relationships. The anger that men and women in my groups have is sometimes not obvious

I've considered re-naming the groups because the term "anger management" has such a bad connotation. Several times per week, I get calls from men and women who tell me that they really want to join one of my groups, but they are scared about who they might encounter in them. In fact, I would predict that it is one of the biggest obstacles to getting help with this issue. It's made worse by the fact that most court ordered violence treatment is misnamed and called "anger management". People who assault others are sent to anger management. People who abuse their children are sent to anger management. People who have serious drug and alcohol addictions are sent to anger management groups. People who have are chronically domestically violent are sent to anger management. So are people with chronic mental illnesses.

One sad part about this is this: lot's of other people need help with their anger. This includes many who may not have trouble obeying the law, but they feel anger with too much intensity or too much frequency. Often they don't seek help because of the stigma.

Do you have any thoughts on this? I'd love to hear them.