By Christine Wheeler, MA

Uncontrollable outbursts of anger can be frightening for everyone involved ... even if you are the one who is angry. 

Anger is a normal human emotion but when your anger starts to escalate, and you can feel your heart pound ... you turn red ... the adrenaline starts pumping ... you start feeling out of control.

Do you want to lash out? Whether your rage is triggered by a family member, co-worker or someone who cut you off in traffic, unchecked anger is a fight waiting to happen. 

Conventional anger management therapists might tell you to practice some relaxation techniques. Maybe you are learning some behavior modification exercises to try to control your anger.

But even if you can learn to control it ... where is the anger going? How are you releasing it? Or are you trying to repress emotions and trauma that are left to percolate beneath the surface ... only to have them suddenly materialize as fits of rage?

You can have peace instead of this.

Try Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) for Anger

Relax your emotions via your body's energy system.

Chances are, unresolved emotions and trauma are lurking at the root of your anger. The American Psychological Association (APA) states that "memories of traumatic or enraging events can trigger angry feelings." 

But you can't erase your memory. However, with Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) you can erase the imprint of those memories and traumas from your body's subtle energy system so that when your usual triggers cross your path, they no longer engage your anger. The sting is gone.

Instead you are likely to stay calm. And, believe it or not, you might not even notice things that normally sent you into a rage. That's because formally irritating circumstances will no longer hold their charge.

EFT is a new type of anger management tool because it clears the roots of anger from your energy system. It is unique because it offers some explanation for your amplified anger ... and ... it offers an effective solution for dealing with out-of-control emotions of any kind.

And that can be important if you want to project friendship instead of fear into the hearts of others.

The APA also states that people who are "too angry ... typically come from families that are disruptive, chaotic, and not skilled at emotional communications." This was certainly the case for Tim,* who you will read about in the following EFT case study.  

The basics of EFT can be learned by anyone and can be self-applied (usually in minutes). This do-it-yourself form of emotional acupuncture calms your disrupted energy system and in doing so, calms your urge to explode.

The effects of EFT are often quick and usually permanent. While EFT does not claim to cure all behavior problems, it has proven to be effective in about 80 percent of the cases where it is used. After EFT, people report a lightness and calm and often their anger collapses and is replaced by laughter.

EFT Calms Explosive Anger in One Session

(Read the entire article at the EFT Web site.)

Lori Lorenz worked with her client, Tim, over the telephone, helping him address his extreme anger attacks. Tim's anger was so intense that had been unable to work for five years because he was afraid he would "explode" in public when exposed to a stressful situation.

In his rages he would often scream uncontrollably, and even rip off his clothing and throw things. He would regularly carry an extra set of clothes with him in case he went into a rage and destroyed his clothing.

Tim had countless sessions with different types of therapists and nothing helped him conquer his urge to explode. The only thing that kept him calm was being in the company of his partner or a close friend. He felt more secure when he had his "babysitter" with him.

Lori and Tim discussed his explosive anger and Tim realized that he was acting the same way that his raging, abusive, unpredictable mother had acted. Now it was his own behavior that he couldn't predict or control.

Having this insight, and EFT as a tool to clear the emotional trauma from his childhood, Tim was able to actually laugh with relief at the end of his first EFT session with Lori.

Repressed Rage is Just Waiting to Explode, but Calmed With EFT

There was still more work to do, and in his next session Tim used EFT to clear deep anger and rage at his mother, which he could still feel in the pit of his stomach. He realized that he had stuffed his anger and this is why he perpetually felt that he was going to burst out. He also cleared feelings of grief that arose as Tim realized that he was grieving his lost childhood. 

As they did more EFT, Tim equated his own urge to rip his clothing and to throw and destroy things with his mother's destructive behavior. When Tim was a child, she would routinely destroy things that he had earned money to purchase for himself.

As he spoke about it, and imagined himself as a child in his childhood house, he could feel his own urge to destroy come to the surface ... he could feel the destructive urge build in his muscles ... but this time EFT quickly calmed his impulse to rip his clothing.

After performing more EFT, on his urge to detonate and destroy things, Tim started laughing.  He was reviewing a mental picture of being in his childhood house. "Damn, that's good! I can laugh at it. I can look around the room and it doesn't' bother me! It's gone! Wow, that's amazing! This is the same reaction people get on the EFT tapes! With the laughter it clicked! I feel so good!"

Two weeks later, Lori heard from Tim who had no more of his anger responses. However, he was concerned that he might have such a reaction. This could be because he had a fear of the original problem returning, or a part of the original problem that they had not addressed with EFT. Either way, the issue is likely to be "tappable."

While a complete description of EFT is beyond the scope of this article, you can learn all the basics from the free EFT Get Started Package on the EFT Web site. This includes a free download of the 79-page EFT Manual. Those wishing to save time and dive right in can get the affordable five-star training DVDs.

More on EFT

Please note that in addition to helping you calm your anger, EFT has been a consistently effective healing tool for hundreds of other physical, mental and emotional ailments. For more information, you can explore the EFT Web site and its numerous success stories regarding fears, phobias, emotional traumas and physical ailments.

Please consult qualified health professionals before putting EFT into practice for yourself or others.