Depression, a mood disorder that tends to be a chronic condition for those it afflicts, can be caused by a number of factors, including genetics, chronic medical conditions, stress and the environment a person finds herself in, notes TeensHealth.org. The inability to deal effectively with feelings of anger is usually a learned behavior or a lack of exposure to more positive and effective behavior techniques.
Basics
A person experiencing depression might easily become irritated, violent or aggressive toward others. Depression can be frustrating because it causes a person to be under the control of a disorder that makes him feel poorly about himself. This buildup of frustrations and lack of success induced by depression, in some people, can make emotions, including anger, hard to control. Also, a person who has an angry personality and is lacking in ability to control his anger might battle with bouts of depression.
Signs
To determine if a person needs to learn anger management techniques, several indicators may be displayed. The Mayo Clinic suggests some possible signs include becoming physically violent when she becomes angry, becoming angry easily and holding the anger in, getting into arguments with a number of different people, destroying property as anger escalates, threatening others with violence and getting into legal trouble as a result of anger.
Depresssion Symptoms
Signs of depression include feelings of helplessness, irritability, feelings of worthlessness, anger, lack of energy, intense sadness, inability to concentrate, feelings of guilt, changes in sleep patterns, changes in appetite and thoughts of suicide, notes TeensHealth.org. These symptoms have to last for at least two weeks at a time for a depression diagnosis.
Considerations
When engaging in anger management techniques, a person's depression have to be taken into consideration. According to the Mayo Clinic, anger management techniques are unlikely to be effective until a person battling depression begins actively reducing the symptoms of depression.
A person with depression should seek the care and guidance of a mental health professional. Engagement in psychotherapy can be very effective at reducing the symptoms of depression, notes TeensHealth.org. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is commonly used with success to reduce the symptoms of depression because it helps a person identify her negative thoughts and replace them with positive ones. As a person's depression subsides, her anger might also become more manageable. Anger can be a feeling used to cover up numerous other feelings a person cannot deal with, reports HelpGuide.org.
Techniques
Anger management techniques can be learned through a number of ways, such as therapy sessions, group classes or family therapy. Anger management classes generally last anywhere from a few weeks to months; they focus on identifying things that trigger anger in a person and learning specific skills to help him reduce the anger in the moment, notes the Mayo Clinic. Also, during anger management classes, a person will learn about how his thinking usually becomes irrational when he becomes angry and he will learn to identify this so that he can calm himself down and engage in problem solving, reports the Mayo Clinic.
