Part 1 – Epic Free Online Anger Management Class w/Emotion Expert John Schinnerer, Ph.D.
Below is the first part in an revolutionary online class on anger management AND setting the foundation for a successful, happy, productive life by John Schinnerer, Ph.D. It offers a simple solution to a complex problem – how to turn down the volume on your anger, irritability and annoyance.
This online anger management class is intended to remove the guilt and shame associated with going in to an office for ‘help.’ The idea is that everyone can easily learn these skills for simple anger management in the privacy of their own home.
Please leave your comments, thoughts and questions below! I will do my best to respond to them.
Note: If you are trying to view the video on an iPad or mobile phone, please click the link below…
Free Online Anger Management Class Part 1
Free Online Anger Management Class Part 1TO ORDER THE ENTIRE 10-WEEK COURSE: Many people who visit this site are in dire need of a complete anger management course immediately. If this sounds like you, please take a look at the complete 10-week online anger management course offering now at Full 10-Week Online Anger Management Course. You will find ordering information at the bottom of the page. This anger management course offers the latest in all aspects of anger management including anger management techniques and tools, stress management techniques, assertiveness training, training in managing anxiety and depression, and the latest in positive psychology exercises to help replace anger with more frequent positive emotions such as passion, interest, happiness and relaxation. The anger management course is designed by anger management expert, John Schinnerer, Ph.D., trained at U.C. Berkeley.
Wait! There’s more! Be sure to check out John’s 3-time award-winning blog Shrunken Mind – Using Positive Psychology to Master Life (Named Top 3 Blog on the web in positive psychology by PostRank and Top 100 blog by The Daily Reviewer)
For a free one page brochure on Anger Management and John Schinnerer, Ph.D., please click here.
And HERE is the article I promised on the 12 Most Powerful Tools to Instantly Turn Down the Volume on Anger…
Top 12 Tips to Turn Down Volume on Anger: Anger Management Tips
By John Schinnerer Ph.D.
Founder Guide to Self
Is your anger in charge of you? Is your irritability causing trouble at home? Are you held back from your potential because others think you are angry?
Anger is common to all of us. It’s part of what makes us human. Anger is a useful, necessary ingredient in a purposeful life.
However, in some of us, anger is dialed up to a high degree. When anger gets too intense, it may lead to constant irritation, feeling misunderstood, frequent arguments and even physical violence.
It’s troubling because deep down you know if you could just learn some reliable anger management tools, you would reach your potential and be much more successful at work AND at home. You know deep down that your anger may be undermining your relationships at home and at work. What’s more, there may be some anxiety, stress and sadness mixed in with that anger as well.
What you’re really trying to do is learn effective ways to manage your anger, anxiety and stress so that they do not control you. Free online anger management classes are a fantastic way to do just that. You can find one of the premiere online anger management courses at http://webangemanagement.com.
You know if you found proven ways to turn down the volume on your anger and anxiety you could be more successful at work and at home.
I’ve been asked by hundreds of people, ’Aren’t these tools that EVERYONE should know?’ And my answer is ‘Absolutely!’ The anger management tools in this article (and this video series) are necessary for everyone to the extent they are interested in pursuing personal happiness and professional success.
Keep in mind that the emotional mind requires repetition to improve. While I can share anger management tools with you, the best means to manage anger is to go through a weekly series and work the exercises to imprint the needed changes into your emotional mind.
So here we go with some of the best anger management tools known to research…
1. Breathe.
Take a deep breath in through your nose for 6 seconds. Hold your breath for 2 seconds. Breathe out for 8 seconds. Breathe into your abdomen or belly. As you breathe in, your belly should inflate like a balloon. As you exhale, your abdomen should collapse or be pulled in toward your spine. Focus on breathing out all the old stale air in your lungs. Repeat 5 times. Anger locks you into a certain way of viewing and reacting to the world. Your breath is one of your most powerful tools to break the hold of anger. The simple act of breathing deeply throughout the day is one of the most important anger management tools you have.
2. Get out in nature.
Take a leisurely stroll outside. Gaze at the trees, the clouds, the plants and the birds. Studies have shown that a mere 20 minutes spent in a natural environment has a restorative effect on the mind. Remember to breathe deeply during your stroll. In June of 2010, a study came out in the Journal of Environmental Psychology showing the vast mental health benefits of spending 20 minutes per day in nature. Twenty minutes surrounded by trees, birds, plants and fresh air decreases anger, increases vitality, energy, mood and happiness. One of the best ways to get feeling better is to reconnect with nature. Numerous studies have linked increased energy and well-being to exposure to nature. A simple wilderness excursion leads to increased feelings of happiness, less anger, and better immune system functioning. Exposure to nature is a fundamental tenet in anger management.
3. Get up and stretch.
Anger creates muscle tension. Anger locks your muscles as well as your mind in place. Stretching is another key to unlocking the angry mind. It relaxes tightened muscles. It improves oxygen flow to the brain which enables you to think more clearly. Stretching a basic, yet powerful, anger management tool.
4. Exercise.
Studies show that individuals who exercise more than 20 minutes per day, sleep at least 7 hours per night, and eat healthy foods that are naturally colorful have reduced feelings of anger and irritation, higher levels of happiness and well-being. Have you worked out today? If not, take a brisk walk for 15-20 minutes (outside in nature of course!) to decrease anger, increase your level of happiness and satisfaction with life. Daily exercise is a critical component of any anger management course.
5. Give yourself a pep talk!
Say to yourself, ‘Hey, this is going to be okay!’ Ask yourself, ‘Is this going to matter 10 years from now?’ In most cases, the answer is likely ‘No, it won’t.’ Talking to yourself in an understanding, calming manner is another key anger management tool. Train your brain so that in annoying situations, you tell yourself, ‘I’m supposed to learn something from this situation. I may not know what that is right now, and that’s okay. The calmer I stay, the more likely I can continue making good decisions. I am a good person and I have nothing to be ashamed of.’ Another important self-talk statement for anger management is ‘I can do this.’
6. Express your anger early in the anger cycle.
With awareness, let your anger out using words to express why you are angry. First you must work on self-awareness so you know in the moment when you are becoming angry. Before you get to a 5 on a 10 point scale of anger, address the anger before you escalate into a rage. Instead, be conscious of your anger. It’s the only way to figure out exactly what is making you angry. This step involves learning appropriate assertiveness where you can identify what you need and share that need with others in a nonthreatening way. This approach is far better than either sitting on your anger and stuffing it down. It’s also been shown to be more constructive than exploding in a rage which often spirals out of control. Learning appropriate assertiveness is a necessary component of all effective anger management classes.
7. Write.
Pull out a piece of paper and write down your frustrations, irritations and annoyances. What is making you mad? Why is it making you mad? There’s no need to hold back here. There’s no need to worry about other people’s feelings. No need to be nice here. The goal of this tool is dump the anger out onto the paper; to release it from your mind. Continue writing until you feel the anger releasing it’s hold on your mind. Writing exercises have been shown in studies to help you release anger and are essential for any top-notch anger management class.
Now let’s turn to a few positive anger management tools as opposed to negative anger management tools in which you focus on creating a positive emotion rather than eliminating a negative emotion. In other words, let’s look at ways you can shift from a negative state (anger) to a positive feeling state (happiness, gratitude, relaxation).
8. Be Grateful.
Jot down 5 things for which you are grateful in life.
Write down 5 things which you do well. Note three things that have gone well today and why they went well. For more on this topic, check out a great book, Guide To Self: The Beginner’s Guide to Managing Emotion and Thought. You can pick up a free copy of this award-winning anger management book simply by sharing your email address at http://www.GuideToSelf.com! This two-part exercise where you write down what you are angry about followed by what you are grateful for is a powerful tool unlocking the angry mind.
9. Prayer.
If you are a religious or spiritual person, it’s frequently helpful to pray to God for assistance and patience during this difficult time. Another approach is to focus on what you are thankful for when you pray. Rather than ask God for more courage, more patience, more of anything, come at the issue as if you already have enough of what you need. For instance, ‘Dear Lord, thank you for giving me the patience and calm necessary to deal with these tough times. Thank you for the ability which you have given me to learn and even thrive in these tough economic times.’
10. Change perspective.
Put yourself in the shoes of the person with whom you are angry. See the world from their vantage point. Sometimes we don’t know enough about the person to judge them as good or bad. Sometimes the situation is complicated and a correct decision or action is difficult, if not impossible. This is the strength of empathy. Look at what happened from their viewpoint. The more you practice empathy, the less intense your anger will become. With practice you will come to understand that it is nearly impossible to know enough about another person to judge them, as you haven’t walked every step of their life in their shoes. So we rarely are in a position to judge. Think about how you come across to other people? How would you like to come across? Make a conscious decision today in terms of who you want to be and how you want to behave. Then act as if you are that individual now.
11. Self-compassion.
While self-esteem has to do with how you feel about yourself generally, self-compassion involves how you treats yourself when things go badly. The goal is to treat yourself with the same type of kindness and compassion that most people extend to loved ones when they fail. When someone else makes a mistake, most people will react with some degree of kindness and understanding. Self-compassion seems to turn down the volume on anger typically associated with huge mistakes while still maintaining your sense of personal responsibility. A 2007 study at Duke University found that ‘inducing self-compassion may decouple the relationship between taking responsibility and experiencing negative affect.’ The way in which you do this is to speak to yourself as if you were a three-year-old child. This allows for mistakes (which is a major path for learning), screw ups, and errors. Self-compassion seems to be related to greater resiliency (the ability to bounce back from difficulty) and reduced anger.
12. Act boldly!
Make a conscious decision right now that you are going to muster the courage to face and conquer your anger. Check out my free award-winning eBook at http://www.GuidetoSelf.com. Sign up for the online anger management skills training course at http://www.GuideToSelf.com. Learn all the essential skills to turn down the volume on anger AND to turn up the volume on a happier, more fulfilling life.
It’s amazing what some simple anger management skills training can do for everyone to:
- turn down the volume on your anger and annoyance
- turn up the volume on happiness
- increase your chances of success
- improve your relationships
The most effective anger management courses include the following powerful core concepts:
- Education around the big three negative emotions (anger, sadness and fear)
- Stress management
- Assertiveness training
- The infusion of positive emotion, meaning and purpose in your life
- Humor
Check out the myriad of ways in which John Schinnerer, Ph.D., the anger management expert, can help you. Feel free to sign up for some free online anger management classes. You can learn from them in the comfort of your own home (http://www.GuideToSelf.com). All we need is your name and email address for access to tons of free anger management tools. By the way, sign up now and receive John’s award-winning 216 page eBook on anger management for FREE.
About the Author
John Schinnerer, Ph.D. is in private practice teaching clients the latest tools for anger management, stress management & ways to turn down the volume on other negative emotions such as sadness. He also helps clients discover happier, character-driven, more meaningful lives. His offices are in Danville, California 94526. He graduated from U.C. Berkeley with a Ph.D. in educational psychology. He has been an executive, speaker and coach for over 14 years. John is Founder of Guide To Self, a company that coaches clients to happiness and success using the latest in positive psychology. He hosted over 200 episodes of Guide To Self Radio, a daily prime time radio show, in the SF Bay Area. His areas of expertise range from positive psychology, to emotional awareness, to anger management. He wrote the award-winning, “Guide To Self: The Beginner’s Guide To Managing Emotion and Thought,” which is available for FREE right now at http://tinyurl.com/2gay78w. His blog, Shrunken Mind, was recently recognized as one of the top 3 in positive psychology on the web (http://drjohnblog.guidetoself.com). His new video blog teaches individuals concrete steps for anger management (http://drjohnsblog.wordpress.com)
Click HERE to download the article above in PDF format.
Top Tools For Anger Management and to Decrease Irritability, Anger, Anxiety and Depression with John Schinnerer, Ph.D. anger management expert.
If you know someone who might benefit from this series, please feel free to email them the link http://drjohnsblog.wordpress.com.
74 comments
Comments feed for this article
October 8, 2011 at 7:57 am
Amie
Great tools.
August 26, 2011 at 10:09 pm
perveiz1245
Anger management training is necessary for many people to be effective at work, for healthy relationships with colleagues, at homes. .
August 22, 2011 at 10:25 pm
Amanda Grediagin Mathews Brinegar
It is a great thing you are doing this online and giving the tools for handling stress and anger related issues online and in a doctors knowledgeable way…
August 15, 2011 at 1:27 pm
John Schinnerer Ph.D.
Here is an email I got two days ago which I wanted to share with you…
Dear John,
I personally want to thank you for the book “Guide to Self: The Beginner’s Guide to Managing Emotion and Thought”. I have greatly enjoyed this book.
Your book by itself has helped me face and overcome many of my own personal issues. I had been a bit busy last few weeks but as I check my emails tonight I see you request a favor of me to forward this onto those whom I feel could use this course as well as I. I am more than pleased to do this.
And yes we are all a bit “crazy” . I was set up to meet with a ‘shrink’ and ended up on medication that neither fixed my OCD nor my anger problem.
Symptoms alone told me to get off them but I was to shy to go to a group setting for anger management. So I turned to the internet and you were the first person I found. I want to thank you for the free book. And look forward to continuing my studies through your course.
You have saved my marriage and my family. They say you have to hit rock bottom in some cases to get back up. I hit rock bottom a month ago.
and I am getting back up thanks to you. Hope to hear from you again.
Jeff
———
This email put a smile on my face for days! It doesn’t get any better!
To life, love and laughter,
John Schinnerer, PhD
August 6, 2011 at 8:04 am
James Perrin
I found this very helpful. My anger problem has been kind of an issue I never noticed in the past. It wasn’t till I had a reaction to some supplements I was taking and had what amounted to ‘roid rage’ and drove away the woman I loved and had co workers looking for cover did I realize my anger. In the last few weeks I have had time to reflex and I realized my anger has been a problem and stumbling block in my life.
You break down on things is right on target. I suffered mental and physical abuse by my mother growing up, things that I thought I worked through, but suddenly the last 6 weeks, things have crept back and guilt of leaving a 23 relationship for a lost love doesn’t help either. I have toned things down since I got off the supplements, my emotions are finally coming back to normal. I was in such a bad place I quit eating and lost 10 pounds. I was already feeling better before I found your link, but I told the woman I drove away I would get some anger management, and though it may be too late for her and I, I want to make sure I never hurt anyone like that again. The last thing I ever wanted to do was mentaliy abuse her like I did. 14 weeks of Heaven became Hell in less than three.
I look forward to the rest of you course, and I agree, you can’t rush this. There are no quick fixes in life.
August 6, 2011 at 12:56 pm
John Schinnerer Ph.D.
I’m impressed, James! That’s fantastic self-awareness and courage. Keep it up!
- John
August 7, 2011 at 1:43 pm
James Perrin
Thank you. Today woke up feeling better than I have in 5 weeks.
July 26, 2011 at 10:30 pm
jenna bruno
This is very helpful. Writing and walking are my main two helpful tips.
July 26, 2011 at 9:39 am
Arnold Sandoval
The video truly outlines the weeks ahead and the step by step transition that you have to go through in order to get the anger out of your daily process and fill it with more positive emotions. The example of the 23 year old baseball prospect, really brought it home because I have had situations in my own life where my anger has cost me jobs and opportunities that my family would of benefitted from.
July 23, 2011 at 3:58 pm
bryan
I just got out of jail on June 15th on a domestic violence case with my ex girlfriend. I’m not a violence person just know that I have some angre issue that I need to deal with. I was almost done with school taking up Medical Asst. this is my first charge against me. Now, it’s going to be hard to get a job in a medical field and even look for a job thats way i’m looking to getting my life back on track. I like the 12 steps of angre management tool. I sometimes use them and it doesn’t seem to work for me why is that?
July 26, 2011 at 10:39 am
John Schinnerer Ph.D.
It depends upon a number of factors – how close is the trigger to what happened when you were younger, your current stress level, how tired you are, substance use, your mood, the existence of ongoing financial pressures and so on. That’s why it becomes important to track down and address each trigger that sparks anger in you.
August 3, 2011 at 4:52 pm
John Schinnerer Ph.D.
Learning anger management skills is a process. It takes time. Sometimes it can take 3-4 months. As you are practicing these skills, you will get slowly better and better as you respond to anger in new ways in new situations. Give it time. Keep practicing. The more skills you learn, the better you get. There’s a cumulative effect. Keep on learning and practicing!
July 17, 2011 at 1:38 pm
Jenni
I have listened to your above blog and I think it is good. I liked the story of the 23 year old and how we was able to turn his life around. I have anger management issues that I need to work on for myself, my three children and my husband. I look forward to learning as much as I can from your blogs to help me get my anger under control.
July 3, 2011 at 10:23 am
Chris
For quite a while now I have been gaining some consciousness that I have an issue with anger and frustration. I find that this is having a negative impact on both my personal and professional life. My wife recently indicated that she thinks that I should work to resolve some of these issues as they seem to be making me quite unhappy. I took her views seriously and started researching online anger management courses. I came across this one of Dr. Shinnerer’s and thought that I would give in an honest and committed try.
I liked this first video — it covered off some things that I am already aware of. I have been reading several books by Dr. David Burns that deal with some of the same themes. I think that Dr. Shinnerer has distilled some of these ideas though and this is very helpful. The issue of assertiveness training really resonates with me. This is an area where I have always been weak and could use some help. I think that my lack of assertiveness and general shyness has led me to all kinds of problems throughout my life. I can think of so many examples that lead me to believe this. I hope that working on this course will help me to make some changes and improvements.
I tend to let my anger and frustration build up and then overflow — similar to what Dr. Shinnerer describes in his video. This is no doubt directly related to my assertiveness problem — I let things build up too much until they get too much to suppress any longer. I really don’t want to be worried and annoyed by seemingly unimportant things like traffic, annoying and inconsiderate people (this seems to really set me off lately as I strongly perceive that civility in our society has greatly declined in the last couple of decades), and small things throughout the day that annoy me. I find that as I get older, these feelings of annoyance and irritation are actually getting stronger and worse. I wonder why this might be…
Work has been challenging over the last little while as well. I like the company I work for and the pay and benefits are very good — in the grand scheme of things I really don’t have a lot to complain about. Yet, I am irritated by the ‘politics’ of the organization and many of the people that I have to deal with. I have, despite spending years and years on post-secondary education, discovered that I’m not getting ahead and people that are a lot younger and not as experienced and educated as me are getting ahead. I find this to be very difficult to accept. Often I have a great deal of difficulty controlling negative emotions such as envy and jealousy. I find it difficult to be gracious towards other people’s good fortunes. This has made me strongly question my level of “emotional intelligence” and this is something that I have started researching.
Thus, I’m hoping to get something new out of this course with some effort on my part. I’ve been struggling with these issues for as long as I can remember. With some genuine effort I’m hoping to make some changes and I hope that this can help me to improve my life. I’d like to be a better husband, father, and employee/co-worker.