Marriage
counseling provides anger management techniques to help couples
control aggressive tendencies. Before a marriage counseling can
help with reconciliation
the aggressive tendencies must first be identified and controlled.
In marriage counseling anger is identified as the emotion that
elicits feelings of irritation in varied degree. A marriage counselor
recognises that anger triggers the same symptoms as the body's
fight-or-flight mechanism. Anger increases the body's secretion
of the hormone adrenaline, which has the primary function of increasing
the response of the sympathetic division of the Autonomic Nervous
System. Anger also has physical repercussions that include raised
blood pressure and increased heart rate, which over long periods
of time can lead to heart disorders. One hypothesis for the primal
function of anger in both humans and animals is to warn aggressors
to cease their threatening behavior and retreat. It is often for
this reason that it is almost always exhibited in aggressive physical
posturing and loud noises. Being angry also has psychological
repercussions as it leads to a loss of self-monitoring capacity
and objectivity. It is for this reason that angry encounters can
sometime lead to physical conflicts.
The different types of anger are managed in marriage counseling
In marriage counseling it is generally recognised that there are three types of angry behavioural patterns, which are identified as Sudden, Deliberate and Dispositional. The first type is known as Sudden, and is the result of an impulsive reaction to self-preservation. The second is commonly known as Deliberate, which is a reactionary response to a perceived intentional harm by others. The first two types of angry responses are episodic, which refers a responsive behavior instigated by an external factor. Episodic angry responses experienced frequently and over a prolonged period of time, can result in the third form of angry behavioral pattern, which is known as Dispositional. This is when the anger becomes a behavioral characteristic trait of an individual. The Dispositional type could be caused by both nurture and nature, and as such is not necessarily dependent on external factors.
Marriage counseling and anger management techniques
Marriage counseling offers techniques that help a spouse with anger management. To manage angry behaviors that are episodic in nature, it is important to first establish the trigger that elicited the emotion. Subsequently, it is then important to re-frame the original appraisal of the trigger. For example, in
situations of hostile interpersonal encounter, rather than feeling a need to retaliate with anger, it would be better to reconsider our perception and regard the encounter as being the by-product of an earlier predicament that has agitated the attacker. This will not only remove the feeling of personal guilt associated with causing such an encounter, but more importantly, it provides a prevailing feeling of poetic justice at the thought that the attacker has already been emotionally bruised by an earlier event. In situations where a feeling of hostility is felt towards a loved one, it becomes necessary to cease and retreat to a physical location where a positive assessment can be made to help with diffusing the situation. This could be a simple case of going for a walk or retreating to a quiet room to consider how to engage the love one as to minimise feelings of hostility. A hostile interpersonal encounter must never be resolved until a sense of objectivity is restored to
prevent further emotional
affliction. Anger should always be managed and never suppressed, as research has shown that the suppression of rage will eventually find more extreme outlets, resulting in physical or psychological damage. It is also important to recognise that some food, sport supplements and medications do trigger feeling of rage and hostility. It is therefore vital to consult a medical practitioner before usage.
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