"We all fear something or other in life and get angry from time to time. None of us is immune to these emotions. The expression of fear and anger can be healthy or unhealthy, helpful or unhelpful and rational or irrational. The most unhelpful and unhealthy fear and anger are all the irrational ones (IE fear and anger that serve no useful purpose). The overwhelming majority of group members I worked with over twenty five years of running hundreds of groups in Probation Offices, hostels, prisons, hospitals, psychiatric wings, churches, educational establishments and in the community were either too fearful or too aggressive in their behaviour. These two opposite response pattern types strangely enough cured themselves of their inappropriate behaviour by the same process and means.
It took me over twenty five years of practice and research before I was able to establish what I now tell you in a few minutes. People who express fear in profusion rarely express their anger and people who express anger in profusion rarely express their fear. Consequently, in such problematic types, the expression of one emotion leads to the repression of the other!
As my research findings and work methods in 'Anger Management' became more established and widly known both in this country and across the English speaking continent, they became acceptable to workers worldwide. With regard to modifying the behaviour of people whose response patterns contain either too much anger or too much fear, the process is as follows:
PROBLEM: The expression of too much fear in my life in all types of situations adversely affects my health, happiness and social functioning and makes me too tense, too often.
SOLUTION: Practise acknowledging and expressing your anger in all situationss that make you angry, and learn Relaxation or Meditation methods, so you can imagine a successful outcome before you practise one for real.
OUTCOME: The more you learn to express your anger in a controlled form, the less you will express your fears in an uncontrolled way and the healthier and happier you will become.
PROBLEM: The expression of too much anger in my life in all manner of situations adversely affects my health, happiness and social functioning and makes me too tense too often.
SOLUTION: Practise acknowledging and verbally expressing your fears in all situations that make you fearful, and learn Relaxation or Meditation methods, so you can imagine a successful outcome before you practise one for real.
OUTCOME: The more you learn to express your fears in a controlled form, the less you will express your anger in an uncontrolled way and the healthier and happier you will become.
Should you happen to fall into the response pattern of either of the above two types above ,the means resolution is at hand. " William Forde (Founder of Anger Management): August 20th, 2015.