Counselors explain many forms of anger
by David Whiteman, reporter

    “What is anger to you … What creates anger for you … How can we control our anger?” two counselors asked students last week on NE Campus.

    Dr. James H. Varnado Jr. and Paul Goertemiller, counselors, presented Anger Management as part of the counseling center’s College 101: Survival Workshops.

    “Anger is an emotion that’s basically unpleasant. It could be a mild unpleasantness or a rather intense form of unpleasantness,” Varnado, professor of psychology, said.

    Approximately 30 people attended the seminar, including many of Varnado’s students.

    More women than men attended the group, and Goertemiller commented that men do not often openly express their feelings and emotions, including anger.

    Varnado explained the many forms of anger: hate, annoyance, rage, hostility and resentment. He said that anger most often begins with a loss or threat of a loss.

    This loss may include the loss of self-esteem, a valued role, valued possessions, relationships, skills or abilities or the threat of either physical harm or violence.

    Many attributes can trigger anger such as insults or relationships to differences in cultures or attitudes.

    Varnado commented on the psychological reactions to anger by seeing oneself as a victim, feeling discounted, ignored or powerless or looking for justice or revenge.

    When dealing with these reactions, one should remember that anger is neither right nor wrong but can be released in a right or wrong way.

    When someone is angry he or she is vulnerable, which may lead to feelings of bitterness, hatred and violence, Varnado said.

    Goertemiller commented on several ways to control anger by either speaking up on an important issue, taking time out to think and recognize differences among people and being responsible for one’s own behavior.

    The seminar touched on a very personal basis, and many students provided their own examples and issues.

    The counselors provided several handouts and papers on their seminar that helped to organize the presentation.

    They also utilized an anger inventory quiz to help students learn how to confront and/or handle anger.

    The questionnaire consisted of 60 true/false questions that would be scored by the number of true responses. Based on that number, the higher the count, the more one needs to work at keeping anger in control.

    The presenters tried to keep the atmosphere of a free forum, and some students compared their scores.

    Varnado said the purpose of this seminar was to help many students deal with anger, especially on such recent events as the World Trade Center disaster.

    “People are walking around with a lot of issues they’re holding in and are not expressing their feelings,” he said.

    Varnado has done many of these anger management seminars and workshops in his 30-year career teaching and counseling. He also has worked with the Women’s Haven and the Texas Youth Commission.

    Varnado believes that students have a hard time dealing with the pressures of classes, grades and finances. Such stress can create anger.

    “But there is hope,” he said.

    Goertemiller is willing to help with anger management and looks forward to more seminars.

    “I think it’s really important that we have this [type seminar], and hopefully we can continue on weekly workshops,” he said.

    “Then we can get into smaller workshops so we can get more personal with each other, talk about issues, try to deal with them and work through them,” he said.

    Goertemiller compared this seminar to previous ones.

    “The workshops we’ve done in the past have only had about six to eight students attend and having 30 this time was pretty remarkable,” he said.

    Goertemiller added his own personal philosophy to “learn from your mistakes and grow from those experiences.”

    Counselors said that students can contact them at 817-515-6661 to discuss personal issues.