Anger Solutions for Smokers

This interesting article was posted on April 26th in news outlets across the world: Here is the Irish Health.com version.

Anger management may help smokers
[Posted: Sun 26/04/2009 by Olivia Fens]
Anger management classes may help smokers to quit, a new study has indicated.Researchers from the University of California looked at the reactions of people playing a computer game – once while wearing a nicotine patch and once while wearing a placebo (fake) patch.The study found that when the participants were not wearing a nicotine patch, they were more likely to react angrily.The researchers believe this is because nicotine affects the part of the brain that controls emotion.“Moreover, the findings suggest that nicotine may critically regulate brain areas that are involved in the inhibition of negative emotions such as anger,” the researchers said.“Behavioural treatments, such as anger management training, may aid smoking cessation efforts in anger provoking situations that increase withdrawal and tobacco cravings,” they concluded. The study was published in the Behavioural and Brain Functions journal.
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If you are a follower of this blog, you already know what my stand is on anger management. Do you want your anger managed or do you want the problems that evoke your anger SOLVED? Anger Solutions practitioners everywhere may want to consider incorporating smoking cessation as one of the benefits of participating in our program. We already know that CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy) is documented as the best option for providing traditional anger management "therapy", with a success rate of approximately 67%. We also know that anger management programs use all sorts of models, and many of these approaches are not studied or documented or regulated. So we have no idea if they work at all.

Anger Solutions on the other hand, has a documented success rate of over 80% in group and 100% in one-on-one coaching. The use of the program is closely monitored throughout our network, so we can ensure consistency in approach and in methodology. Anger Solutions tackles the underlying causes for poor choices (beliefs) and in challenging those beliefs, it opens up opportunities for participants to choose better outcomes. We do not take a cookie cutter approach to clients - we flex the program to suit the client's needs.

How does this all apply to smoking cessation? We might start with the underlying belief that "smoking calms me down". Challenging this belief is the first step. Closely followed is challenging the belief that "I can't quit". How about the belief that "If I quit smoking I'll get fat." We would use the pleasure/pain principle to balance out these patterns of thinking and then replace the limiting beliefs with empowering ones and leverage the participant into new behavioural choices that create more positive outcomes (i.e. smoke-free living, more money to spend on other things). And - to top it off, the participant walks away with a solid decision making model so that when the cravings crop up because of anger or any other trigger, s/he knows how to process each experience and choose the right response.

Curious to know how Anger Solutions can assist in your smoking cessation? Visit our website at www.angersolution.com.
Julie Christiansen
Anger Specialist and Master Anger Solutions Trainer

When does Anger become a Problem?

It is common these days to hear about people with "anger management issues". I even saw a blog the other day about "reverse anger management". It occured to me that perhaps this is a good time to clarify exactly what anger is, and when it becomes a "problem".

First, lets start with the definition of anger. Anger is NOT as many would like to believe - a behaviour or set of behaviours. Rather, anger is an emotion. It can range in intensities from mild irritation to red hot rage, and occurs naturally in every human being. Anger is a natural emotion, as natural as is happiness, sadness, and fear.

Anger serves a purpose - it is an indicator that there is something in our lives that is not right - that requires change, improvement, or attention. Anger has been the catalyst for major positive change in the world - take the Civil Rights Movement as an example.

Anger as an emotion is not something that can or should be managed or controlled. You don't manage love or joy, do you? Do you try to manage fear? Sure you do, but how successful are you with that effort? Emotions cannot be managed. They exist to be felt and experienced. Trying to manage anger is like trying to convince an empty belly that it is not really hungry.

Anger only becomes a problem at the point of decision. Let me explain. Whenever you experience an emotion, you make a choice about how you wish to express that feeling. When you're happy you may laugh or you may cry. You may even do both. When you are afraid, your body's physiology will respond accordingly, but you may choose to fight or you may choose to flee. When you experience anger, the same is true. You will experience the physiological response, but you will also make a choice about what do do with your feelings. Some people bottle up their emotions in an attempt to "control" them. This approach may work in the short run, but often results in serious illness as the body reacts to the extended containment of negative energy. Some people allow their emotions to spill all over - with tears, or with cursing, and other aggressive behaviours. Most of these choices occur at the subconscious level - thereby causing the average person to believe that anger and the behaviours that accompany it are one and the same.

This much is clear: that what people do with their anger is not the same as the anger itself. Anger only becomes a problem when the people experiencing it make poor choices about how to express it. Then, those people do not need a crash course in how to "manage" their anger; they need to be taught a decision making model so that they become conscious about their feelings and the choices they make around expressing those emotions. An ancient proverb says (and I'm paraphrasing) - if you take a man fishing, he will eat for a day; if you teach that man to fish, he will eat for life. Anger Solutions is about teaching you to fish. We teach you how to evaluate each anger-inducing situation; how to make right decisions; and how to behave in ways that will generate positive outcomes.

Want to know more? Visit our website: http://www.angersolution.com/ to learn about Anger Solutions - the single best alternative to traditional anger management in the world.