Anger:

Discuss the strategies that you use when you experience that feeling. Comment on whether each action is a positive coping strategy, negative, neutral, or time-out. (In some cases, an action may be either positive or negative depending on the circumstances - elaborate.)

coping strategies:

• Positive coping strategy - This is a strategy that enables you to restore emotional balance; feel better about yourself; be respectful of yourself, others, and property; and help you to solve the problem.
• Negative coping strategy - This is a strategy that does not restore emotional balance; may be harmful to yourself, others, or property; does not solve the problem and may create additional problems.
• Neutral coping strategy - This is a strategy that is neither positive nor negative but used to excess, could be harmful.
• Time-out strategy - This is a strategy that helps you to calm down and restore emotional balance. It is only temporary and must be used with another positive strategy in order to solve the problem.

Consider the following questions:

Which strategies do you use most often? What is the effect of this? Provide examples of coping mechanisms you use within the strategy (i.e., journaling, exercising, taking a walk, meditating, drawing, etc.). What happened when you used negative strategies? Are there times when some of the negative strategies might be appropriate? When negative strategies are not appropriate, discuss two examples of positive coping mechanisms you could put in their place.