After a brain injury, some people find that they get angry more easily. Sometimes, it may seem like any little thing can set them off. However, you DO NOT have to have a brain injury to have trouble controlling your temper!
Why Am I Angry More Now?
There are different reasons why someone might have more problems with anger after TBI.
- The part of your brain that controls your feelings might have been injured.
- You might get frustrated because some things are harder than they were before the injury.
- You might feel less connected to your friends and have a harder time laughing things off.
This session will give you some ideas for controlling your anger by changing your thoughts and reactions when you are frustrated, stressed, or angry.
Assumptions Pave the Road to Trouble
What does this mean?
Assumptions are conclusions you make about someone else’s actions or behavior without having all of the facts.
For example:
You get bumped into while at your locker in the school hallway.
What happened?
There are a lot of possibilities, such as:
- Maybe somebody hit you on purpose.
- Maybe somebody was not watching where they were going.
- Maybe you accidentally moved into somebody’s way.
space
Watch how Jeremy responds to this situation:
After being bumped into at his locker, Jeremy assumed that the girls ran into him on purpose. He was very angry and reacted by yelling at them.
Try this exercise!
What’s the correct answer?
Well, believe it or not, there might not be one! There’s no way to know what others are feeling unless they tell you
Don’t assume things are done on purpose
The important thing in the video is that Jeremy can control how he reacts. It’s hard to keep calm and not react, but generally getting into conflict isn’t worth it.
Taking Control of Your Reactions
You might still feel angry after something happens. That is fine. But how you react to those feelings is under your control. In the following video, Jeremy chooses to control his anger. Look for some of the self-monitoring skills that you learned about in the last session.