What is Anger?

Anger is a human emotion or a feeling of displeasure, that may happen in many circumstances for different reasons. Everyone feels anger, which is a perfectly normal response to situations where they feel stress, frustration and irritation. But when the intensity of anger becomes excessive, it may become a serious problem.

Anger in students

In most schools, the number of cases of school violence, aggression and misbehaviour continues to loom large. Each student has a different expression of anger. Some students experience intense anger during sports, games or any classroom activities, while others remain silent or passive during provocative situations. There are different factors responsible for anger in students, which include:

• Personal Factors: Students who have high excitatory nerve cells show more anger or aggression than those with fewer excitatory cells. Students who experience situations such as severe punishment from a teacher, rejection or pain have several memories of anger. These memories trigger the intensity of their anger in day-to-day life.
• Social Factors: Negative peer interactions and relations can also trigger anger thoughts and behaviours in students. Showing favouritism in the classroom or giving any physical punishment by teachers can also sometimes increase the level of anger in students.
• Family Environment: The family environment is one of the major factors responsible for anger issues in students because they learn most of their behavioural patterns from their families.Those students who face family conflicts or divorce are more likely to have aggressive behaviour. They experience intense anger in provocative situations.

Anger Management

Anger management is a way to learn the skills to deal with situations involving excessive anger. It involves learning to control one’s reactions to anger-provoking situations, including one’s emotional feelings of anger, the physiological arousal associated with anger, and the resulting angry behaviour.

Working with students who have anger issues requires understanding how to manage their anger effectively. Teaching students effective anger coping strategies can be helpful in managing their anger and frustration in healthy and respectful ways. Some strategies include:

• Encourage students to speak positively about themselves. It’s the best method to calm down their anger and frustration.
• Ask them to count up or down to ten. While counting, they are not thinking about what they are angry about, which allows them to relax. After that, they look at the situation from a new perspective.
• Ask them to identify the main cause of anger. While thinking about the answer, they might figure out the solutions to their problem, and they feel relaxed.
• Start deep breathing during angry moments. It will calm down their anger by taking their attention away from anger.
• Whenever they are feeling anger or frustration, tell them to take a break from it by giving themselves some space or by starting something new. Then, revisit the situation with a cooler mind.
• When you are angry with someone, talking to them and listening to their perspective can help you understand the problem. This helps them manage their anger.

Anger or frustration can have negative impacts on a student’s academic life. Due to anger issues, students find it challenging to concentrate on their studies. It decreases their motivation for learning and also has a negative effect on their ability to function correctly. Anger management is very helpful for those students who have trouble controlling their anger.