Chapter 13: Anger Management and Adlerian Play Therapy:

Finding solace from emotional and physical pain is a difficult task to take on for even the most well adjusted person among us. Children, who are striving to find a sense of self and are still evolving in their identity development, may not be able to correctly manage the emotions and feelings that present themselves when harmful things surface. Negative externalizing behaviors fueled by anger often lead to detrimental consequences such as pain to self and/or others. Children who are angry might lack the cognitive capacity to understand and verbally express the cause of their anger; as a result, they retaliate in ways that impact them academically, socially, emotionally, and physically. Many individual and systemic factors significantly contribute to the development of feelings of anger and anger expressions including health issues or medical problems, learning difficulties, dysfunctional home life, and systemic factors such as racism and oppression. Unfortunately, there may be instances where the root of children’s anger is unknown at first glance and undetected. Even more distressing, adults may attribute anger to personal qualities of the child such as disposition or temperament; thus, imparting unfair judgment or bias toward the child.