When Anxiety Makes You Angry: CBT Anger Management Skills for Teens with Anxiety-Driven Anger

by Kelsey Torgerson Dunn MSW, LCSW, Mallory Grimste LCSW (Foreword by)

Overview

Powerful tools to help you manage the anxiety that makes you angry.

Do people tell you that you seem angry? Do you find yourself losing your cool from time to time? From academic stress, worrying about college, and dealing with friend drama—you’ve got a lot on your plate. Is it any wonder, then, that the stress of it all can cause you to snap? If anxiety or stress is causing you to act out in ways that don’t seem like you—this book can help.

Using a proven-effective approach rooted in evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), When Anxiety Makes You Angry will help you identify the anxiety beneath your anger, accept difficult emotions—rather than fighting or trying to ignore them—and learn healthy coping and self-regulation skills to help you find emotional balance. You’ll also discover how to “train your brain” to stop and think before reacting; and how to choose calm over chaos when faced with the things that trigger your anxiety or anger.

The teen years are full of changes, and sometimes it can be hard to deal with all the worry, uncertainty, and setbacks (without getting angry). But with the right tools, you can take control of anxiety and the difficult emotions it causes—and face the challenges ahead with confidence and a clear head. This friendly guide has your back!

In these increasingly challenging times, kids and teens need mental health resources more than ever. With more than 1.6 million copies sold worldwide, Instant Help Books are easy to use, proven-effective, and recommended by therapists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684038367
Publisher:	New Harbinger Publications
Publication date:	03/01/2022
Series:	Instant Help Solutions Series
Pages:	168
Sales rank:	1,137,550
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.37(d)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Kelsey Torgerson Dunn, MSW, LCSW, specializes in anxiety and anger management therapy for kids, teens, and college students. She opened her group practice, Compassionate Counseling St. Louis, in early 2017. She practices cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and mindfulness skills, and often finds that just having someone on your side is the most helpful part of counseling.


Mallory Grimste, LCSW, is an adolescent mental health specialist with a counseling practice in Woodbridge, CT. To maximize her impact in helping teens improve their mental health, she shares new videos every week and offers a variety of guided self-help resources and programs on her website, www.mallorygrimste.com.

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Introduction for Parents 1

Introduction for Teens 5

1 The Iceberg: What Else Is Underneath Your Anger? 9

2 The Cognitive Triangle 25

3 Why Anxiety and Anger Are A-OK 41

4 Figure Out Your Explosion Point 57

5 Take a Deep Breath-It's Time for Coping Skills! 71

6 Problem Solving with Anxiety-Driven Anger 93

7 The Three-Step Approach to Anxiety and Anger Management 109

8 Change Doesn't Happen Unless You Want It: (and You're Motivated Enough to Follow Through) 123

Acknowledgments 145

Resources 147

References 149

Interviews

Torgerson Dunn resides in St. Louis, MO.

Editorial Reviews

Finally, a book about how to handle the anger that anxiety often brings with it! This is a must-have book for teens, parents, and even clinicians trying to address anxiety. This book will connect the dots that are often missing when it comes to anxiety-driven anger.”
—Natasha Daniels, LCSW, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) child therapist, creator of www.atparentingsurvival.com, and author of Anxiety Sucks

Natasha Daniels

As a practicing psychologist working with teens for over twenty years, and as a parent myself, I’m very excited to see Kelsey Torgerson Dunn’s new book, When Anxiety Makes You Angry, coming forward. With straightforward, engaging narrative and many useful tools, strategies, and exercises, Torgerson Dunn’s book offers kids much-needed support in going beneath the surface of anger to the discomfort and chaotic feel of underlying anxiety. Kids need to be seen for more than their anger on the surface, and they need help like Torgerson Dunn’s book in breaking free of deeper anxiety so that anger is no longer necessary.”
—Mitch Abblett, PhD, psychologist, and author of Prizeworthy

Mitch Abblett

When Anxiety Makes You Angry gives teens (and parents!) hope. Using exercises that build on one another, Kelsey Torgerson Dunn gently guides teens through the process of understanding their emotions and managing them well. No judgment or shame, just practical advice that can be used anywhere—even in the middle of a busy school day.”
—Nicole Schwarz, LMFT, parent coach, owner of Imperfect Families, and author of It Starts with You

Nicole Schwarz

Kelsey Torgerson Dunn’s book on anxiety-driven anger for teens fills an important gap in skills-based learning, tapping into the intersection of two impactful mind states in a uniquely nuanced way. As a clinician who encounters anger and angst regularly in sessions, this book will be immensely useful in providing a thorough and relatable framework for teens in and outside of the therapy experience!”
—Katie Krimer, MA, LCSW, therapist; authenticity coach; author of The Essential Self-Compassion Workbook for Teens; and founder of the wellness and self-growth platform, Growspace

Katie Krimer

Kids need a much deeper understanding about the anxiety they experience, and to have the tools to both manage and prevent it. In her new book, When Anxiety Makes You Angry, Kelsey Torgerson Dunn lays out exactly what parents need to learn in order to best support their children to deal with their emotions.”
—Tim Jordan, MD, developmental and behavioral pediatrician, and author of She Leads

Tim Jordan

This book is an excellent contribution to the mental health resources available to teens and their parents at a time when so critically needed. The book is remarkably well written, jargon-free, and in an interesting and colorful style that will appeal to adolescents. The coping and problem-solving skills are evidence-based and introduced with real-life examples. Teens, parents, and teachers will find this creative and developmentally sensitive book highly informative.”
—David A. Crenshaw, PhD, ABPP, author; fellow of the American Psychological Association, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychology; and board-certified and licensed psychologist

David A. Crenshaw

Finally, a resource for teens that struggle with anxiety that is masked by anger! Anger is an often-misunderstood symptom of anxiety leading to ineffective treatment choices and significant problems in teens’ relationships with others. Kelsey Torgerson Dunn does a beautiful job of helping teens understand the fight response to anxiety, and skillfully guides them—step by step—in learning the choices in coping with these difficult emotions.”
—Angela Adamson Springer, LCSW, owner of Calm Mind CBT, LLC in St. Louis, MO; and diplomate and certified trainer consultant of the Academy of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies

Angela Adamson Springer

05/01/2022

Gr 6 Up—There are few teenagers who don't experience anger. Some struggle on a daily basis with how to control their reactions to events; others may suffer from occasional outbursts. In this comprehensive guide to dealing with a universal emotion, anxiety therapist Dunn walks teens through the likely causes for this often-misunderstood feeling and helps them come up with solutions to combat their behavior. Explaining that most anger stems from anxiety, she lays out simple ways to identify growing anxiety in all areas of life, and then lists clear ideas for dealing with specific types of anxiety. Using cognitive behavior therapy tools, the author provides exercises that are easy to incorporate into busy school days. She includes charts and other infographics that are geared toward stressed-out teenagers, who may not feel they have time in their everyday schedules for an emotional self-evaluation. As an added bonus, the author offers several practical and preventative calming techniques. VERDICT This valuable guide is sure to help teens, and the adults in their lives, manage anxiety and anger. Recommended for all libraries.—Karin Greenberg

School Library Journal