Mental Health Awareness Week: Rise in children seeking help for anger issues

Thousands of children and young people have received support from a national service for anger issues over the past year, new figures have revealed.

Data released during Mental Health Awareness Week from the NSPCC’s Childline service saw 3,000 counselling sessions delivered for anger issues, both online and over the phone, marking a 6% increase on the previous year’s data.

NSPCC says the rise in contacts on the topic has made anger issues a top ten mental health concern for all genders contacting the service. They say the data gives insight into a generation increasingly struggling to manage and control their emotions in the face of a range of pressures at home, school, online and in the community.

“For months I’ve been struggling with my anger. I started punching the wall, but I had to stop coz it was messing up my knuckles,” one boy, aged 15 told Childline. "Everyone in this house shouts and argues, the noise is too much. My mum always tries to ask me how I am, but I have to lie so I don’t add to the arguments.”

Data showed the counselling sessions revolved around several recurring themes when children are discussing anger. Some young people were struggling with regulating their emotions during challenging situations and often experience frustration with parents and peers following disagreements. Others were sharing that they are aggressively criticising themselves.

One girl, aged 9, confided to the service: “I feel so angry all the time, shouting is just how I express myself. When my parents shout at me, I shout back.”

“They tell me to talk in arguments and tell people how I feel but no one cares, no one listens unless I shout.”

Shaun Friel, Childline Director, said the service is seeing how pressures at home, school, online and in communities are affecting children's ability to manage and deal with difficult emotions.

"The fact that children are reaching out for help about their anger issues reflects the growing emotional challenges young people face in today's complex world,” he said.

The service has been working with children’s mental health charity, Place2Be, to release advice to both young people and parents on how to manage anger issues and look after their mental wellbeing with tips for children and parents.

Dr Rebecca Kirkbride, Clinical Director at Place2Be, said: “the rise in children seeking support for issues related to anger, as highlighted by Childline's data, demonstrates the importance of early intervention and teaching children healthy ways to process emotions.”

“By creating safe spaces where young people feel heard and validated, we can help them develop the emotional vocabulary and self-regulation skills needed to navigate complex feelings, without expressing feelings through angry or aggressive behaviour – which may have implications for themselves or others around them.”