[Rivière]

I admit, I'm not keen on having people tell me to 'picture a happy scene'. It comes across like they have zero clue as to what you're going through, and it shows. When I'm angry or feeling emotional, the last thing I can get my bran to do is picture some cheerful place. It simply doesn't work like that. At all. Not to mention, sometimes a person can't always easily remove themselves from a bad situation. That would be like telling me not to go to work because it's making me angry. I can't not go to work, I won't earn any money and pay for bills, food, water, everything important.

Anger needs an outlet and acknowledgement, not a distraction or avoidance. We all have different coping strategies to deal with anger, so maybe you can experiment and see what works for you. I know that you have football, but sometimes football isn't going to be enough because you have to physically interact with others and it can make it worse. You may need to have a punching bag for when you're at home and just let everything go on it. Or a client of mine, who has a hairband around her wrist for when she feels like she wants to self-harm, she'll twang and snap at the band. I use blue tac when I get agitated or need something to focus on.

It takes time to find a coping strategy that works, but start somewhere and start crossing off the number of things that do and don't work on a list.