Information and advice on anger and aggression, as well as tips on how to help young people express their anger in a safe way. Anger is a natural human emotion that we all feel, but it can become a problem when it leads to unhelpful or destructive behaviour. Children and young people in particular might struggle with anger during adolescence when emotions are felt more strongly.
In fact, anger is a useful emotion which helps us identify and address unfairness and injustice in how we feel and in the world around us. Anger is sometimes called a secondary emotion, because it can be used to mask other feelings of shame, fear, anxiety or hurt. Anger is also a common response to feeling out of control.
Three animated clouds are next to each other; the first cloud has lots of punching fists coming out if it with the words underneath highlighted in yellow 'outward aggression'. The second cloud has marks on its cheeks, aiming punches towards itself with the words highlighted in yellow underneath 'inward aggression'. The third cloud looks fed up and has thunderbolts around it, the words underneath highlighted in yellow read 'passive aggression'.
It can be easy to assume anger and aggression are the same, but they're not. Aggression can be a response to a real or perceived threat. It can also be a trauma response. This can look like expressing anger towards other people, animals or things; or shouting, violence and intimidation.
After being angry, a young person may admit their behaviour is frightening or worrying them, as well as those around them. This is when we direct anger towards ourselves, and includes negative self-talk such as saying that we hate ourselves, that we're useless, that we don't deserve things.
