If you drive, you likely know the feeling. You get cut off, someone honks or dangerously switches lanes, forcing you to brake and miss the light, leaving you seething. Driving is a stressful activity in itself; combined with work or personal problems and feelings of anger or frustration, it can be downright dangerous.

"Road rage" is the term applied by psychologists to denote feelings of extreme anger and hostility while driving coupled with the desire for retaliation against other drivers. With road rage, people who successfully control their feelings and emotions the entire day experience out-of-control feelings of hostility when offended by another driver. It's likely that these feelings and reactions have been around since the days of horse-drawn carriages, but the attention given to road rage and its consequences has steadily increased over the past decade.

A study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that incidents of road rage went up by 51% in the first half of the 90s. While the numbers of drivers, cars, and miles driven have increased consistently over the past years, a proportional increase in the number of roads and highways has not occurred, resulting in increasingly more crowded roadways and increased driver stress.

Psychologists have studied aggressive drivers and found that those who consider themselves aggressive behind the wheel have stronger physiological responses to stress than less-aggressive drivers. In a study published in the June 2001 issue of Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, self-reported aggressive and calm drivers were asked to perform stressful tasks and listened to fear-inducing scenarios while bodily stress responses were measured. The authors of the study, from the Center for Stress and Anxiety Disorders at the University at Albany, reported that the aggressive drivers responded to stress with greater increases in muscle tension and blood pressure than did their calmer peers. This work suggests that individual differences in how we respond to challenging or emotionally difficult situations may exist that at least partially determine whether we will react with anger or defensiveness while driving.

Tips for Reducing Road Rage

1. Don't see an aggressive driver's behavior as a personal assault. Bad or dangerous drivers aren't targeting you personally; they're unleashing their frustration or bad mood on the rest of the world at random.

2. Refuse to allow your mood to be dictated by the acts of an unpleasant and discourteous stranger. Save your emotional energy for persons and activities who deserve it.

3. Work on being able to just "let go" of angry feelings in traffic with the goal of maintaining inner peace and serenity. After all, your mood and the quality of your day are more important than a brief moment of revenge.

4. Recognize that mistakes occur. You've likely made driving mistakes at some time, and the other driver who acts aggressively may have just made a mistake.

5. Imagine that the aggressive driver has had a horrible day - perhaps just gotten fired or left by his/her significant other. It just might be true and might be the cause of erratic behavior.

6. Put on some soothing music or stop and take a break if your emotions get out of control. A stressed-out driver is potentially an unsafe driver. Give yourself time to cool down and preserve everyone's safety.

7. Realize that you are not the police - it is not your job or responsibility to penalize those who break traffic rules. Set a positive example for others.

Melissa Stoppler

Anger management is one of the most popular courses available online. You'd think that the large numbers of people who take, and who have taken, these classes would convince others that these classes really do deliver the goods. You'd think so, but you'd be wrong. Some people just don't think that online anger management classes will work for them. Still others think that online anger management classes will not work at all.  Both of these groups are wrong, too.

Although this disagreement about the usefulness of anger management classes online has been going on for quite a while, the statistics show that people who have taken well-designed anger management classes online have gotten their money's worth, and then some. These people have learned ways to control their anger and manage situations that used to cause them to fly off the handle. Their changed lives are the proof in the pudding.

Let's be honest. There is a lot at stake here. Anger can be harmful, even dangerous, for you and for the people around you. The good news, however, is that anger can be controlled and its causes dealt with before you experience another big blow-up. The first step towards recovery is to recognize that you are at the point where your anger needs to be managed. That's a big step, but you can't learn to swim until you get in the water.

The second step is to accept the fact that, like many others who've taken online anger management classes, you really can learn to change your behavior and attitudes. Others have put their lives back on track, and so can you. With diligence, determination and persistence, you can learn ways to control and your anger, instead of letting it control you. Online anger management classes are designed specifically to help you change your attitudes and behavior, as the many people who have successfully completed these online courses will testify.

Since no one online anger management class will hit a home run for everyone, there are several kinds of anger management classes available online. Your anger-related needs are different from most other people's, so you need classes that address your  individual anger-related needs. The good news is that such classes are available.

Even after you have made the decision to participate in anger management classes, you still face the big stumbling block of time, or rather the lack of time, in your hectic professional and personal schedules. We're all jammed when it comes to taking on new activities. But, when you take anger management classes online, you gain some efficiencies you would not have in a traditional face-to-face course. For instance, you can use the time you would have spent driving to a standard class and back actually working on your course. Another big plus is that you can do your coursework any time of the day or night because the course is accessible 24-7. And remember, you don't have to be sitting in a classroom miles from your home. You can do your coursework anywhere you have access to the Internet.

Also, when you participate in anger management classes online, you will have the opportunity to interact online with a variety of people from different parts the U. S., as well as other parts of the world. What a value-added experience that can be!

In addition, while you can interact with hundreds of people participating in the class online, you can still have the option of remaining anonymous. No one needs to be embarrassed about dealing with his or her own anger issues honestly.

With so many benefits, anger management classes online are a valuable and accessible option to help you live a happier, more productive life.

Why wait, when you can enroll in an anger management online class today! Whoever requested large mega-doses of irony and paradox for our lives today can cancel the rest of the order. There is plenty---probably too much---to go around.  For instance, from childhood we are taught to strive for a first-rate education so we can graduate and land high-caliber jobs. Then, no sooner do we settle in to the corner office than we realize that achieving our goals comes at an un-advertised cost, and a big one at that.

With our demanding jobs, family responsibilities, and hectic lifestyles come boatloads of anxiety and stress. And if that's not bad enough, anxiety and stress   take it upon themselves to bring along their close traveling companion.wait for it.wait for it.you guessed it: anger. Before we know it, our most common and destructive emotion, Mr. Clenched Fist Anger, moves in with us and begins to take over---usually without our realizing it. No wonder then that the number of people suffering from stress and anger problems is on the rise.

Our search for ways to "unwind our minds" can lead down a variety of paths. One such path is anger management. This is a system of psychological therapies and exercises that can help reduce the negative effects of over-the-top anger.  It should be no surprise that the number of organizations that provide anger workshops, like stress and anger, is also increasing.

Some good news is that there are various options for anger management available through psychological and motivational methodologies. The main objective of these anger workshops is to help people understand the harm that anger can cause them and the people around them, and to help them find ways to manage and control their anger. The anger workshops provide new insights, time-tested behaviors, and reliable techniques to teach people how to be keep their cool in potentially stressful situations. They also work for people who need to control other destructive emotions.

Anger workshops also teach how to stay more focused and motivated at work, at home, and in other settings, and to manage yourself in situations that typically cause you stress and anger. Those who offer anger courses know all too well that sudden eruptions of excessive anger can cost you your job, relationships and even marriage and family. That's why the courses focus on providing solutions to prevent such problems.

Another irony in our world today is that time to engage in constructive and helpful activities, such as anger management classes, is hard to come by indeed. It's a double-irony that people who are overloaded with stress and related anger find it especially difficult to make enough time in their schedules to attend face-to-face classes on anger management. For them online anger management classes can be a lifesaver.
Over the past decade and a half, online anger management classes have become increasingly popular as an effective alternative for people who need help in stress and anger management.
Online anger classes are convenient and easy to access, and the cost of online anger classes is affordable. They often less cost than face-to-face classes when you figure in the costs of travel and childcare. Certified online anger classes courses are taught and facilitated by skillfully trained professionals. In addition, with online courses you can do your coursework at times and places that you choose. How's that for stress relief?
Of all our emotions, anger has the potential to be the most destructive. Sure, anger is sometimes justified, such as when it spurs us to right a wrong. But most of the time, anger rears its ugly head when we are most vulnerable to it, and when a big blow-up is the last thing the situation calls for.

Strange, isn't it, how anger seems to catch us when we are at the end of our emotional rope? Strange, but significant, in showing how vulnerable we can be to angry outbursts when left to our own devices. And if that's not bad enough, anger usually brings with it only a cup of the kind of positive energy that generates good deeds for every barrel it brings of temper and rage.

Left uncontrolled, anger can spur people to blow their stack way out of proportion to what the situation calls for. It's bad enough when the rage is verbal, and it's even worse when it's physical. But don't kid yourself. Both of these kinds of anger leave scars that can take a very long time to heal, if they heal at all.

People who constantly lose their temper at the least little provocation are well down the road to forming the anger habit without even thinking about it. Too many explosive episodes of flying off the handle can cost them their jobs, relationships with family and friends, and even their marriage. But, just as habits can be learned, they can also be un-learned, or at least managed.

All too often, it's the stresses and frustrations of life that trigger episodes of lashing out. So it should come as no surprise that the most common root cause of anger is un-managed stress.  Although a some people are able to control their anger themselves, a great many others need help to find new and better ways to rein in their temper. That's where anger management techniques training and anger management classes can make a big difference.

Anger management training from a skilled professional, such as a counselor, psychologist, or other qualified workshop leader often includes a variety of methods for dealing with un-wanted anger. There are numerous anger management classes available today for anger management training. These anger management techniques in our training offer options that give people methods and practices to help them manage their anger, and to find alternative ways to channel their emotional energy into more positive outlets. Anger management classes have also proven to be effective in helping people recognize the kinds of problems and stresses that trigger their over-the-top outbursts. They can then learn to use these recognition skills as "early warning" devices to ward off temper tantrums before they occur. Anger management classes also help people discover attitudes and behaviors that can help them manage their emotions in general.

Well-designed classes of anger training that are certified and approved by professionals in the field of anger management techniques are now being offered online. Given their convenience and effectiveness, it's no wonder that more and more people are opting for online anger management classes. Online anger management classes are increasingly popular with people whose personal and professional schedules make attending classes in person too time-consuming and too expensive, given the costs of transportation and childcare. An online anger management class has the same course content as a traditional face-to-face class, but it also takes advantage of the tools and techniques of the Internet. On top of that, certified online anger management techniques and anger management classes are facilitated by experienced online learning professionals to help and support class members. There are many good reasons to enroll in online anger management classes, but the best one is that the sooner you enroll, the sooner you can be on your way to a happier and more productive future.