Support Groups in Massachusetts

Treatment duration depends on the person’s specific challenges and circumstances. There are treatments for anger problems that are shorter and more goal-oriented, like Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), which can last weeks to months. Others, like Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) may last between six months and a year, while a more intensive treatment, like psychodynamic therapy, is open-ended, and clients may see their therapist for a year or longer.

Everyone gets mad from time to time. But when angry outbursts become frequent and cause damage to relationships, whether at home or in the office, it may be a good time to look into therapy. A therapist can assess where a client’s anger may be coming from, suggest strategies for averting angry outbursts, and help a client create a plan to become a calmer version of themselves.

Medications do exist that help people mitigate the feeling of anger, but these are reserved for people with anger-related psychiatric disorders, such as intermittent explosive disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, or in some cases borderline personality disorder. In these cases, antidepressant medications may be prescribed to help with the client’s symptoms. In most cases of anger management, however, talk therapy is the recommended treatment, along with lifestyle changes where relevant.

It’s helpful to express your concern and love for the person while framing therapy as a tool for improving their life. Offering specific examples of how an individual’s behavior affected either themselves or others should be done with compassion and with empathy. It may be useful to devise a game plan—breaking the process down into parts, such as finding a therapist, making appointments, and looking into insurance coverage.