Anger in Trauma

Name: Anger in Trauma
Uploaded: 2025-11-02T00:06:25.000Z
Description: Why anger is often justified in PTSD and how DBT helps regulate it.

Why anger is often justified in PTSD and how DBT helps regulate it.

From the course

Applied DBT Skills for Trauma

So another common trauma related emotion is anger. Being angry and irritable is one of the diagnostic criteria for PTSD, and that is true for many people. One of the things that can make anger a bit more challenging sometimes is that in many cases, their anger actually fits the facts. They are angry about things that were done to them in their past traumas of people who caused them harm, and they're angry about that. And that anger totally is justified. So one of the things that we have to do as therapists is help clients figure out is your anger justified? It sort of depends what they're angry at. But a lot of times it's anger about the trauma they've experienced. And then if it is justified which it would be in that case the task more for anger is helping them to regulate it to a level that is going to be effective for them. So it might fit the facts but being this angry all the time is causing problems in a way where we might still need you to reduce it because it's not effective to be this angry in all the ways that it's showing up in your life