Psychology and Therapy for Children and Teens with Anger or Acting-Out Behaviors
Although anger is a normal, healthy emotion, it can become overwhelming and destructive leading to difficulties in school, problems at home, and trouble with peers. In early childhood, children begin to learn about different basic emotions they experience, including anger. They are taught, in school and at home, how to begin to manage and suppress aggressive impulses, such as pinching, hitting, biting or yelling. When they are unable to manage their impulses, adults may witness a young child use acting out behaviors such as throwing a toy or hitting someone. As children develop, they begin learning more complex language and communication skills and also learn about empathy and perspective taking. With these developed skills, anger is often expressed verbally. However, anger and frustration can be so overwhelming at times that older children may revert back to using physical aggression. For teenagers, anger and frustration is common and triggered by many stressors including academic pressures, peer issues, the desire and need to gain independence and have privacy, family conflict and general developmental changes in the body, which impact mood and functioning. Some teenagers are able to communicate their frustrations well while others have trouble communicating and instead act out or use aggressive behaviors.
Learning how to manage and regulate emotions is a normal and difficult part of growing up. Sometimes children and adolescents require more help than others to develop effective and adaptive coping skills to help calm them down and manage their strong emotions. If your child or adolescent seems like they are unable to stop themselves when they start getting angry or frustrated or if they seem to be verbally and/or physically aggressive, it may be important to seek professional help. At Equilibria Kids, we frequently work with children who require help learning how to manage their emotions. Our treatment begins with a thorough assessment to see what the underlying triggers to their angry and frustrated feelings are. With this information, treatment can be tailored to help your child or adolescent develop adaptive anger and emotional management skills, which will hopefully improve their functioning at home, in the classroom and with their peers.
If your child or teen is struggling with anger or acting out behaviors, we can help.