What Your Anger Is Trying to Tell You

A 12-Week Live Online Therapeutic Group

Understanding anger, recognising what lies beneath it and learning healthier ways to express, regulate and respond to what you feel.

Anger is often treated as a problem that needs to be controlled.

But anger itself is not necessarily the problem.

It can be a signal.

It may appear when a boundary has been crossed, when something feels unfair, when we have been repeatedly ignored, when our needs have gone unspoken for too long or when fear, hurt and disappointment have had nowhere else to go.

For some people, anger comes out quickly and intensely. For others, it is pushed down until it becomes resentment, irritability, emotional distance or exhaustion.

What Your Anger Is Trying to Tell You is a therapeutic group for people who want to understand their relationship with anger — not simply suppress it.

The aim is to learn how to listen to anger without allowing it to control you.

When Anger Feels Difficult to Manage

You may recognise yourself if you often:

  • become irritated more quickly than you would like

  • feel that small situations sometimes trigger very strong reactions

  • hold things in until you eventually explode

  • avoid expressing anger because you fear conflict

  • feel guilty after becoming angry

  • replay arguments long after they have ended

  • struggle to communicate frustration before it becomes overwhelming

  • feel resentful when other people repeatedly expect too much from you

  • become angry when you feel ignored, dismissed or misunderstood

  • find yourself saying “it’s fine” when it is not

  • withdraw or become emotionally distant instead of expressing what hurt you

  • feel frustrated because other people do not seem to understand your needs

  • find it difficult to distinguish assertiveness from aggression

  • feel ashamed of your anger

  • notice that anger often appears after long periods of tolerating too much

Sometimes anger is not asking us to become louder.

It may be asking us to pay attention sooner.

What May Be Underneath Anger?

Anger rarely exists in isolation.

Beneath it there may be:

hurt

fear

disappointment

rejection

shame

helplessness

injustice

exhaustion

unmet needs

repeated boundary violations

Sometimes anger protects more vulnerable emotions.

It can feel easier to become angry than to say:

“That hurt me.”

“I felt rejected.”

“I was afraid.”

“I needed something from you and did not know how to ask.”

Understanding what lies beneath anger does not mean dismissing the anger itself.

It means learning to understand the message it may be carrying.

What We Will Explore

Across the 12-week therapeutic cycle, we will explore:

Your relationship with anger
Understanding how anger is experienced, expressed, suppressed or avoided in your life.

What happens before anger
Learning to recognise the emotional and physical signs that appear before anger becomes overwhelming.

Anger and boundaries
Exploring how frustration may develop when limits are repeatedly crossed or when we struggle to communicate them.

Suppressed anger & resentment
Understanding how repeatedly saying yes, staying silent or avoiding conflict can gradually create resentment.

Anger and vulnerability
Exploring emotions that may exist beneath anger, including fear, sadness, hurt, rejection and disappointment.

Anger versus aggression
Recognising that feeling anger is different from acting aggressively.

Assertiveness
Learning how to communicate needs, limits and disagreement clearly without attacking or withdrawing.

Responsibility without self-blame
Exploring how to take responsibility for our reactions without assuming responsibility for everything that happens in a relationship.

Triggers & recurring patterns
Understanding why certain situations, behaviours or relationships repeatedly activate strong emotional responses.

Repair after conflict
Developing healthier ways to return to communication after disagreement, misunderstanding or emotional escalation.

When Anger Has Been Silenced

Not everyone who struggles with anger looks angry.

Some people learned very early that anger was unacceptable.

They may have learned that being angry meant being difficult, disrespectful, selfish or unsafe.

As a result, anger may become hidden.

It can appear as:

  • chronic irritation

  • resentment

  • emotional withdrawal

  • passive-aggressive behaviour

  • exhaustion

  • tension in the body

  • difficulty saying no

  • sudden emotional outbursts after long periods of silence

When anger has been suppressed for a long time, learning to recognise it can actually be part of developing healthier boundaries.

The goal is not to become angrier.

It is to become more aware of what anger is trying to communicate before it has to become overwhelming.

In Positive Psychotherapy

Positive Psychotherapy does not view anger simply as a symptom that needs to disappear.

It asks what function the emotion may be serving and what capacities may be involved.

A person who values justice may become angry when something feels unfair.

A person who values respect may react strongly when they feel dismissed.

A person with a strong capacity for responsibility may become resentful when they repeatedly carry more than others.

A person who values loyalty may experience intense anger when trust is broken.

A person who has learned to prioritise politeness, patience or harmony may suppress anger until the emotional pressure becomes difficult to contain.

The therapeutic task is therefore not to eliminate anger.

It is to help restore balance between capacities such as patience and assertiveness, connection and boundaries, responsibility and self-protection.

Instead of asking only:

“How do I stop being angry?”

we may begin asking:

“What is my anger responding to?”

“What need or value is being touched?”

“What boundary have I not expressed?”

“What can I communicate before resentment builds?”

Anger as Information

Anger can become destructive when it controls our behaviour.

But it can also become useful when we learn to listen to it.

It may tell us:

Something matters to me.

Something feels unfair.

I am reaching my limit.

I need to speak.

I need something to change.

I have tolerated too much.

The goal is not to act on every feeling of anger.

It is to develop enough emotional awareness to decide what the feeling is telling us and what we want to do with that information.

What This Group Can Help You Develop

The group can support you in developing:

  • greater awareness of your emotional triggers

  • earlier recognition of anger before it escalates

  • healthier ways of expressing frustration

  • greater understanding of the emotions beneath anger

  • stronger emotional regulation

  • clearer personal boundaries

  • greater confidence communicating disagreement

  • healthier assertiveness

  • reduced guilt or shame around anger

  • awareness of resentment and suppressed needs

  • greater ability to respond rather than react

  • healthier ways of managing conflict

  • improved understanding of your needs and values

  • greater confidence protecting yourself without becoming emotionally disconnected

From Reaction to Response

Emotional regulation does not mean never becoming angry.

It means creating enough space between the feeling and the action to make a choice.

Sometimes that choice may be to speak.

Sometimes to pause.

Sometimes to set a boundary.

Sometimes to recognise that an old wound has been activated.

And sometimes to realise that something genuinely needs to change.

Anger does not have to become an explosion.

It can become information, clarity and action with intention.

What Is Your Anger Trying to Protect?

Behind anger there is often something important.

A need.

A value.

A boundary.

A part of ourselves that no longer wants to remain silent.

Learning to understand anger does not mean giving it control.

It means allowing it to become part of a more honest conversation with yourself.

Your anger may not be asking you to fight.
It may be asking you to listen.

Group Details

12 Weekly Sessions
Saturdays | 10:00–11:30
90 minutes per session
Live Online
16 January 2027 – 3 April 2027

New participants join at the beginning of the 12-week therapeutic cycle, allowing the group to develop continuity, trust and a consistent therapeutic space.

Session Dates

January 2027
16 January
23 January
30 January

February 2027
6 February
13 February
20 February
27 February

March 2027
6 March
13 March
20 March
27 March

April 2027
3 April

Final session: 3 April 2027

Fees & Payment Options

Pay Per Session
€30 per 90-minute session

Monthly Prepayment
€25 per session when all sessions scheduled for that month are paid together in advance.

The monthly prepayment option applies when all scheduled sessions within the calendar month are paid in advance.

Joining the Group

If you would like to participate, please complete the registration form below.