Anger plan: understand it, spot it early, plan your response
Understand how your anger builds, learn your early warning signs, and make an in-the-moment plan with a time-out and ways to cool down.
Written by Tarun Vermani, Trainee Clinical Psychologist Last reviewed
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Anger plan: understand it, spot it early, plan your response
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Understanding your anger
Based on Novaco (1975, 2007): anger as a cycle of trigger, thoughts, body, behaviour and consequences.
Anger usually runs in a cycle. A trigger leads to thoughts about it, which fire up the body, which drives what we do, and the results can feed the cycle again. Mapping your own cycle makes it easier to step in early.
If your anger ever leads to hurting someone, or you worry it might, tell your therapist. If anyone is in danger, call 999. If you are worried about your own behaviour towards a partner or family member, you can talk to the Respect Phoneline on 0808 802 4040 (Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm).
Your early warning signs
Anger is far easier to manage early, before it boils over. Learn to catch it on the way up.
Your in-the-moment plan
A time-out is not losing or backing down. It is stepping away to cool down so you can respond well. It is for calming yourself, never a way to punish, silence or control another person. If someone in your life frightens, threatens or controls you, don't practise a time-out with them. Talk to your therapist first. If you are in danger, call 999.
Free domestic abuse helplines, open day and night: in England, the National Domestic Abuse Helpline (run by Refuge) on 0808 2000 247; in Scotland, Scotland's Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriage Helpline on 0800 027 1234; in Wales, Live Fear Free on 0808 80 10 800; in Northern Ireland, the Domestic and Sexual Abuse Helpline on 0808 802 1414.
Afterwards
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When to use ‘Anger plan: understand it, spot it early, plan your response’
‘Anger plan: understand it, spot it early, plan your response’ is an interactive cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) worksheet. As a core CBT skill it is used right across the model, with presentations including depression, anxiety, OCD, trauma and low self-esteem, rather than being tied to a single diagnosis.
It is designed to be used within therapy rather than as a standalone self-help tool: a therapist introduces it, works through it collaboratively, and helps make sense of what it surfaces. You can preview the full worksheet above, then assign it digitally for clients to complete between sessions on any device or download it as a print-ready PDF.
How it works
Most people work through it in around 20 minutes. It moves through four short steps:
- Understanding your anger: Based on Novaco (1975, 2007): anger as a cycle of trigger, thoughts, body, behaviour and consequences. Anger usually runs in a cycle. A…
- Your early warning signs: Anger is far easier to manage early, before it boils over. Learn to catch it on the way up.
- Your in-the-moment plan: A time-out is not losing or backing down. It is stepping away to cool down so you can respond well. It is for calming yourself, never a way…
- Afterwards
Completed on the Formulate platform, your client's answers are saved automatically and shared straight back to you, so you can review them before the next session rather than waiting for a paper copy to come back.
The CBT approach behind it
In common with other CBT methods, ‘Anger plan: understand it, spot it early, plan your response’ works by noticing the links between situations, thoughts, feelings, physical sensations and behaviour and finding practical ways to change unhelpful patterns. The aim is not positive thinking but a clearer, shared understanding of what keeps a difficulty going and practical, testable ways to change it.
Because it is a CBT tool it stays focused on the here-and-now links between thoughts, feelings, the body and behaviour, and it works best as one part of a wider course of therapy rather than as advice or a diagnosis.
Evidence & sources
This worksheet is grounded in established cognitive behavioural therapy theory and practice. Key sources include:
- Novaco, R.W. (1975). Anger Control: The Development and Evaluation of an Experimental Treatment. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
- Novaco, R.W. (2007). Anger dysregulation. In T. A. Cavell & K. T. Malcolm (Eds.), Anger, Aggression, and Interventions for Interpersonal Violence (pp. 3-54). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
For use alongside professional support
Formulate provides educational CBT resources for use with a qualified therapist. They are not a substitute for professional assessment, diagnosis, or crisis care.
If you need urgent help now:
- Emergency services: 999 — if you or someone else is in immediate danger
- NHS 111 (NHS 24 in Scotland): 111 — choose the mental health option for urgent help, in England, Scotland and Wales (in Wales, press 2)
- Lifeline: 0808 808 8000 — for urgent help in Northern Ireland, free, day or night
- Samaritans: 116 123 — free, day or night, 365 days a year
- Shout: 85258 — text SHOUT, free, day or night
- SANEline: 0300 304 7000 — 4pm–10pm, every day
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