Rethinking Anger: Moving Beyond Catharsis and Control
Overview
Anger can be a misunderstood emotion and is often approached as a problem to eliminate, regulate, or control. Anger is frequently conflated with aggression, leaving clinicians and clients with limited frameworks for understanding its adaptive purpose. This Stress, Trauma, and Resilience (STAR) Seminar explores anger through an attachment-informed, trauma informed, and evidence-based lens, helping move beyond traditional assumptions and develop a more nuanced understanding of anger as meaningful emotional information. Participants will explore the science of anger, including its evolutionary function, relationship to nervous system activation, and current research challenging the catharsis myth. The training will examine the important distinction between anger as a core human emotion and aggression as a behavior, while exploring how shame, cultural messaging, relational experiences, and personal history shape the way individuals experience and express anger. Through a practical clinical framework, participants will learn how to help clients move through the process of understanding anger from cueing body sensations, emotional experiences, underlying needs, and ultimately toward intentional choice.
Learning objectives
- Distinguish anger as a core emotion from aggressive thoughts and behaviors and describe the implications of this distinction
- Describe the current evidence regarding the catharsis myth and identify its implications for evidence-informed anger management
- Identify at least 4 evidence-informed interventions that move beyond symptom reduction by helping develop awareness, regulation, and compassionate engagement with anger
- Develop an understanding of anger as a meaningful source of information rather than viewing it solely as a symptom to eliminate
Training times
This training is provided at the time(s) and in the format(s) shown below.
| Date | Time | Format | CE Credits | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
October 21, 2026 (Wednesday)
|
9:00 am - 10:00 am | Live, online |
1.0 CEs
| 984 spots left |