Plan ahead

The point of familiarising yourself with situations likely to trigger your anger and the physical sensations and thoughts that accompany your rage is so that you can be mentally prepared when you encounter events and people likely to provoke you. You are much more likely to stay in control if you have already rehearsed how you will respond.

As you formulate and use the techniques in Chapters 2 to 4 to combat your anger-inducing attitudes you should naturally gain more spontaneous control. However, until that process starts paying dividends you might want to try some of the following more immediate CBT strategies.

The emergency anger toolbox

1 When you spot the signs make an excuse and find the nearest exit

Anger is a highly context-driven ...

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