Anger Is an Emotion, Not a Diagnosis
Anger itself is an emotion, not a diagnosis. When outbursts are frequent and hard to control, a clinician may look at conditions such as intermittent explosive disorder, which our impulse control disorders page describes. SAMHSA describes anger as, in the most general sense, a feeling or emotion that ranges from mild irritation to intense fury and rage,1 and its guidance refers to anger management problems rather than to a disorder. Anger management is a set of skills, taught here alongside treatment across three levels of care in Riverside.
What that means practically is that anger is almost never the thing by itself. It is usually sitting on top of something: a trauma history, a depression, a withdrawal, or a life that has asked more of you than anyone could reasonably give. Gently looking at what sits underneath is part of the work.
Anger and Aggression Are Different Things
These two are often confused, and the difference can matter a great deal to how a woman sees herself.
SAMHSA puts it directly: aggression is behavior that is intended to cause harm to another person or damage property. Anger, on the other hand, is an emotion and does not necessarily lead to aggression, so a person can become angry without acting aggressively.1
If you have been told you have an anger problem, this may be a relief to hear. Feeling furious is not the same as doing harm. Many women worry that they are dangerous because of how strongly they feel, rather than because of anything they have done.
SAMHSA also names a third thing, hostility, as a complex set of attitudes and judgments that motivate aggressive behaviors.1 Three different words for three different things, and being clear about which one applies to you is genuinely useful.
What Is Usually Underneath It
Trauma. The VA’s National Center for PTSD states that many people feel angry after a trauma, that high levels of anger are related to a natural survival instinct, and that when faced with extreme threat people often respond with anger. In people with PTSD, that response to extreme threat can become stuck, and the higher level of tension and arousal can become the normal state.2 NIMH lists feeling irritable and having angry or aggressive outbursts among PTSD’s arousal and reactivity symptoms.3
Depression. NIMH lists increased anger or irritability among the signs and symptoms of depression.4 Depression does not always look like sadness, and in a lot of women it looks like a short fuse.
Withdrawal. MedlinePlus lists irritability and mood swings among the common symptoms of alcohol withdrawal.5 If your temper changed when your drinking changed, that is a recognized pattern, not a flaw in your character.
Substance use alongside it. SAMHSA notes that anger and substance use disorders often co-occur, increasing the risk for negative consequences such as physical aggression, self-harm, distressed relationships, loss of a job, or criminal justice involvement.1
Read about PTSD, depression or childhood trauma.
What Anger Management Actually Teaches
SAMHSA publishes a widely used model for this population: a 12-week cognitive behavioral group treatment, designed for clients whose substance use and mental health problems co-occur with anger management problems.16 Sol uses its own approach rather than SAMHSA’s 12-week model. The concepts below are the ones SAMHSA’s model works through.
| Concept | What it is |
|---|---|
| The anger meter | A 1 to 10 scale, where 1 is a complete lack of anger or total calm and 10 is an angry and explosive loss of control leading to negative consequences6 |
| Cues to anger | Four categories of early warning sign: physical, behavioral, emotional and cognitive6 |
| The anger control plan | The list of strategies you identify to manage and control your anger6 |
| Time-out | In its simplest form, taking a few deep breaths and thinking instead of reacting. It may also mean leaving the situation or stopping the discussion.6 |
| The aggression cycle | An episode of anger seen as three phases: buildup, explosion and aftermath6 |
| The A-B-C-D model | Activating event, Belief system or self-talk, Consequence or how you feel, Dispute or examining whether those beliefs are realistic6 |
| Conflict resolution | An assertive method for resolving conflicts with other people1 |
If Someone Is Hurting You
If someone is hurting you, you deserve support that is made for that, and we want to gently point you toward it.
Anger management is treatment for how a person experiences and expresses her own anger. It is not a domestic violence intervention and it is not a substitute for a specialist program. SAMHSA’s own guidance on substance use treatment and domestic violence is explicit that a batterer’s violence is not caused by anger, and that addressing the anger is not the same as addressing the larger problem of violence.7
If what brought you here is someone else’s violence toward you, anger management is not the right service for that, and you deserve support designed for your safety. National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233, or text START to 88788.
You are also welcome to call our admissions line. You will not be asked to explain yourself, and nobody will talk you into a program. The Office on Women’s Health also publishes information on the effects of violence against women and where support exists.8
What the Research Shows
SAMHSA reports that meta-analyses and reviews of the literature, including studies of prison populations, conclude that there are clinically significant anger reduction effects as a result of cognitive behavioral interventions.1
“Clinically significant” is the source’s own phrase, and SAMHSA does not give a percentage.
In our experience, it helps to care for whatever sits underneath the anger at the same time as learning the skills. It reflects our clinical approach rather than a research finding.
Is Any of This Different for Women
A little. Here is what SAMHSA says.
SAMHSA notes that the events or situations associated with someone’s anger may vary somewhat depending on culture or gender, and that the cues or warning signs may vary as well. It gives one example: some women identified their relationships with their partners or parenting concerns as events that led to their anger, while men rarely identified these issues.1
SAMHSA’s point is about triggers for some women, not a theory about women’s anger.
SAMHSA also states that the treatment model is flexible, can accommodate racial, cultural and gender issues, and was found to be effective with different racial-ethnic minority groups and with both men and women.1
The thing that is genuinely specific here is the room. Anger is one of the hardest things for a woman to say out loud, because the expectations attached to it are different. A group of women who have felt it too can be a gentler place to talk about it.
Starting Treatment
1
Call or Send Your Insurance Details
Admissions answers 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
2
Assessment
A clinician works out what is going on underneath the anger and which level of care fits.
3
Verify Your Insurance
We contact your plan and walk you through your benefits.
4
Start Date
Set around what your week can hold.
If you are here because someone else told you to get anger management, say that on the call. It changes nothing about whether you are welcome and it is useful information for the assessment.
In crisis right now? Call or text 988.
Frequently Asked Questions
Our admissions line is answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at (951) 972-5085.
Is Anger a Mental Health Disorder?
Anger itself is an emotion, not a diagnosis. When outbursts are frequent and hard to control, a clinician may look at conditions such as intermittent explosive disorder. SAMHSA describes anger as an emotion ranging from mild irritation to intense fury and rage, and its guidance refers to anger management problems rather than a disorder. Often anger is connected to something else, and caring for that is part of treatment.
What Is the Difference Between Anger and Aggression?
SAMHSA puts it directly: aggression is behavior intended to cause harm to another person or damage property, while anger is an emotion that does not necessarily lead to aggression. A person can become angry without acting aggressively.
Why Has My Temper Got Worse?
Several possibilities worth checking. The VA notes that many people feel angry after trauma and that in PTSD the response to threat can become stuck. NIMH lists increased anger or irritability among depression’s symptoms and angry outbursts among PTSD’s. MedlinePlus lists irritability and mood swings among the common symptoms of alcohol withdrawal.
What Does Anger Management Actually Teach?
Sol uses its own approach rather than SAMHSA’s 12-week model. SAMHSA’s model works through an anger meter for rating intensity, four categories of early warning cue, a personal anger control plan, time-outs, the aggression cycle of buildup, explosion and aftermath, the A-B-C-D model for examining self-talk, and a conflict resolution method.
Does Anger Management Work?
SAMHSA reports that meta-analyses and literature reviews conclude there are clinically significant anger reduction effects from cognitive behavioral interventions. That is the source’s own wording, and it does not come with a percentage.
Is This a Domestic Violence Program?
No. Anger management addresses how a person experiences and expresses her own anger. SAMHSA’s guidance is explicit that a batterer’s violence is not caused by anger and that addressing anger is not the same as addressing violence. If someone is hurting you, you deserve support designed for your safety. You can reach the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or text START to 88788, and our admissions team is also glad to help point you toward the right support.
I Was Told to Get Anger Management. Do I Have To?
Whether you are required to do anything is between you and whoever told you. What we can say is that being sent is not a reason to be treated differently here, and it is useful to mention at assessment.
Does Insurance Cover Anger Management?
It is part of your program rather than billed separately, so what matters is how your plan covers your level of care. Sol accepts most major insurance plans, including Aetna, Anthem, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Carelon, CareFirst, Cigna, UC SHIP and UnitedHealthcare. Sol can often work with HMO policies through a single case agreement. Sol does not accept Medi-Cal, Medicaid, Medicare, Molina, IEHP, Kaiser, TRICARE or TriWest. Every plan is different, so the quickest way to know is to verify your insurance. Our admissions team responds within 24 hours.
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Feeling It That Strongly Is Not the Same as Being Dangerous
Most women who come here about anger find the useful conversation is about what is underneath it.
4175 Brockton Avenue, Riverside, CA 92501
Confidential, gentle and pressure-free. You never need to promise anything on the phone.
Sources8
- 1.Reilly PM, Shopshire MS. Anger Management for Substance Use Disorder and Mental Health Clients: A Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Manual. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Publication No. PEP19-02-01-001, first printed 2002, updated 2019. https://library.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/anger_management_manual_508_compliant.pdf
- 2.US Department of Veterans Affairs, National Center for PTSD. Anger and Trauma. https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand/related/anger.asp
- 3.National Institute of Mental Health. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd
- 4.National Institute of Mental Health. Depression. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/depression
- 5.MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine. Alcohol withdrawal. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000764.htm
- 6.Reilly PM, Shopshire MS. Anger Management for Substance Use Disorder and Mental Health Clients: Participant Workbook. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Publication No. PEP19-02-01-002, updated 2019. https://library.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/anger_management_workbook_508_compliant.pdf
- 7.Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. Substance Abuse Treatment and Domestic Violence, TIP 25, Chapter 3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64431/
- 8.Office on Women’s Health, US Department of Health and Human Services. Effects of violence against women. https://womenshealth.gov/relationships-and-safety/effects-violence-against-women
Medical Disclaimer
This page is educational and is not medical advice. Anger itself is an emotion rather than a diagnosis, and what sits underneath it can only be assessed by a qualified clinician. Anger management is not a domestic violence intervention and is not a substitute for a specialist program. Sol Women’s Treatment is certified by the California Department of Health Care Services for outpatient and intensive outpatient services, certification 330246AP, and licensed by the California Department of Social Services, facility 331881576, and does not provide detox, inpatient or residential care. No two women respond identically and nothing here promises a result. In a medical emergency call 911. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.