Anger Management Worksheets PDF: 6 Sheets for Adults

These anger management worksheets are written for your client and built for you, the therapist who assigns them. There are six, in the order a cognitive behavioral anger program teaches them: an anger thermometer, a triggers and early warning signs sheet, an anger log, an anger control plan with a timeout agreement, a thought challenge for anger, and a plan for a repair or conflict conversation. Each one is a short list with lines to fill in. Print this page or save it as a PDF from your browser, and fill in the first sheet together in session.

After the worksheets comes the part for you: what the research says about CBT for anger, how the sheets line up with SAMHSA's anger management manual, an order for individual sessions, how to assign and review the sheets, where anger management stops (it is not a program for people who abuse a partner), how to adapt the sheets for teens and court-referred clients, and how to note the work.

About this page. The worksheets are our own wording and layout. They follow the cognitive behavioral approach of SAMHSA's anger management manual, a public domain federal publication cited throughout. For the feelings underneath anger, use our anger iceberg worksheet alongside these; this page doesn't repeat it.

Every client in this article is invented. Any resemblance to a real person is a coincidence.

How to print this page or save it as a PDF

The lines are for a pen. A client who would rather type can copy the bold headings into a note on their phone. The log asks about real episodes, so keep it somewhere private: a locked phone, or a folder that comes to sessions.

Six anger management worksheets for adults

Before you start

Anger is a normal feeling. It tells you something matters: you've been treated unfairly, something is in your way, or you're carrying more stress than you can hold. The feeling isn't the problem. Problems start when anger comes too often, gets too strong, or comes out in ways that hurt people, including you.

These six sheets help you notice anger earlier, see what sets it off, plan what to do before it peaks, look again at the thoughts that pump it up, and sort out problems without a blowup. Use them in order. Fill in the first one with your therapist. There are no right answers, and nobody is grading you.

Worksheet 1: My anger thermometer

Anger doesn't jump from calm to explosion, even when it feels that way. It climbs. This thermometer helps you learn what each level feels like for you, so you can catch it on the way up. Everyone's numbers are different. A 6 for you might be a 4 for someone else, and that's fine.

0 to 2: Calm

3 to 4: Irritated

5 to 6: Angry

7 to 8: Very angry, hard to think straight

9 to 10: Losing control

My numbers

What I'll do at each level

Worksheet 2: My anger triggers and early warning signs

A trigger is something that sets your anger off. Calling it a trigger doesn't mean anger is automatic, or that you can't control what you do next. It means you can learn to see it coming. Early warning signs are what happens inside you as anger starts to build. The sooner you notice them, the more choices you have.

Part A: What sets my anger off

Circle any that fit, then add your own.

My own triggers:

What makes me more likely to snap

These don't cause anger, but they lower the bar. Circle any that fit.

Part B: My early warning signs

There are four kinds. Circle any you notice.

Now pick the ones that matter most.

Part C: What I can do about my triggers

Worksheet 3: My anger log

Fill in one entry each time your anger reaches ______ or higher on your thermometer (agree on the number with your therapist). Write it the same day if you can, once you've calmed down. Short answers are fine.

Entry 1

Entry 2

Entry 3

My week

Worksheet 4: My anger control plan and timeout agreement

An anger control plan is your toolbox: a short list of what works for you, written down while you're calm, so you don't have to think of it when you're not. Most people need a few different tools. Start with what has already helped you.

Part A: My anger control plan

When I notice my first warning sign:

When I reach my timeout number, I take a timeout (Part B).

To cool down during a break, circle any you'll use:

To keep my anger from building in the first place:

People who help:

Part B: My timeout plan

A timeout means stopping a conversation that's heating up, stepping away for a while, and then coming back. It works best when the people you live or work with know about it ahead of time and agree to it.

Our timeout agreement

For people who live or work together. Talk it through while everyone is calm.

Important. If anyone in your home is afraid of you, or you're afraid of someone at home, talk to your therapist before you use this agreement with them.

Worksheet 5: Thought challenge for anger

What we tell ourselves about a moment can turn a 3 into an 8. Someone cutting in line feels very different if you think "they didn't see me" than if you think "they think I'm nobody." This sheet helps you slow down and look at the thought again. It isn't about pretending everything is fine. Sometimes someone really was unfair. Then the question is what to do that actually helps.

What happened

Thinking traps that fuel anger

Circle any that fit the thought.

Questions to ask

A more useful thought

Worksheet 6: My repair and conflict conversation plan

Part A is for after your anger has hurt someone. Part B is for raising a problem calmly, before it turns into a fight. Fill in the part you need before you talk, and practice it with your therapist.

Part A: Making a repair

Part B: Raising a problem calmly

Before you use this sheet. Don't use it to contact anyone who has asked you not to contact them, or anyone who has a protective order against you. Talk to your therapist instead. A repair is something you offer. The other person doesn't owe you forgiveness.

If anger turns into hurting someone, or someone is hurting you

Tell your therapist. If anyone is in danger right now, call 911. If you're thinking about hurting yourself, call or text 988 (the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the US). If someone at home is hurting, threatening or controlling you, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.

End of the worksheets. The rest of this page is for therapists.

What the research says about CBT for anger

Treatment for anger has a steady evidence base, and most of it is for cognitive and behavioral approaches.

What that means for using these sheets:

How these worksheets follow SAMHSA's anger management manual

SAMHSA's Anger Management for Substance Use Disorder and Mental Health Clients: A Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Manual, by Patrick Reilly and Michael Shopshire, was first printed in 2002 and updated in 2019. It describes 12 weekly, 90-minute group sessions for adults 18 and older, and it's meant to be used with a companion participant workbook. That workbook is what most people mean when they search for the "SAMHSA anger management workbook." The ideal group is 8 members, with a range of 5 to 10, and the authors note that qualified clinicians can use the same format and sequence in individual sessions.

The manual is in the public domain. It says its materials "may be reproduced or copied without permission from SAMHSA or the authors," though not distributed for a fee without SAMHSA's written authorization. You can download the manual and the workbook from SAMHSA's library.

The manual's approach combines relaxation, cognitive and communication skills, and asks each person to build their own anger control plan. Here is how our sheets line up with its tools:

Parts of the manual these sheets don't cover: the aggression cycle (buildup, explosion and aftermath), the breathing and progressive muscle relaxation scripts, and two sessions on how anger was expressed in the client's family. For the feelings under anger, use the anger iceberg worksheet. For calming skills, the distress tolerance skills guide, the window of tolerance worksheet and the coping skills worksheets fit well beside Worksheet 4.

An order for individual sessions

The manual's sequence is written for 12 group sessions. In individual work, you'll often move faster through the early sheets and spend longer on the later ones. A starting order:

The log runs through all of it, from session 2 to the end.

How to assign anger management worksheets

How to review the worksheets next session

Start every session with a short check-in, before anything new. The manual's check-in uses four questions, which in our words are:

Then:

An anger log example

Invented client: a 44-year-old restaurant manager we'll call Rafael, in his third session. One entry from his week:

In review, Rafael and his therapist noticed the same thought, "she thinks I can't handle anything," in two other entries, both about money. That thought became the first one on his thought challenge sheet. The slammed door also led to the safety questions in the next section. His answers are in the progress note further down.

When anger involves violence or intimate partner abuse

Anger management is for anger. It is not a treatment for abuse, and it is not a substitute for a batterer intervention program. Before you assign any of these sheets, find out which situation you're in.

Anger, aggression and abuse are different things.

Anger management is not a batterer intervention program.

Screen every client, alone, in both directions.

Questions to ask in private, in your own words:

If the answers point to danger

Alcohol and drugs. The manual's foreword notes that anger and substance use disorders "often co-occur." For its groups, it recommends members be abstinent from drugs and alcohol (other than prescription medicines taken properly) for at least 2 weeks before joining. Screen with the AUDIT-C, and treat substance use alongside the anger work.

Adapting the worksheets for teens

SAMHSA's manual is written for adults 18 and older, so treat the sheets as a starting point for teens, not a ready-made program.

Adapting the worksheets for court-referred clients

Clients sent by a court, a probation officer or an employer can do well in anger management, but the referral brings in a third party with its own rules.

A letter you can copy and adapt (only with a signed authorization on file):

How to note anger management work in a progress note

"Discussed anger" tells a reader almost nothing. A useful note names the worksheet, gives the numbers from the log, records what you asked about safety and what the client said, and puts the next step in the plan. Here is Rafael's note in DAP format:

A treatment plan objective that matches this work: "Reduce anger episodes rated 7/10 or higher from 4 a week to 1 or fewer, measured by the weekly anger log, within 12 weeks." Our treatment plan template shows how to word goals and objectives like this one.

The same content fits other formats. In a BIRP note, the worksheet goes under Intervention and the ratings under Response. The DAP notes examples include a risk note written out in full, and the progress notes cheat sheet lists clinical words for interventions and client responses.

How to describe anger work on your practice website

People rarely search for "anger management worksheets" when they need help themselves. They search for "I yell at my kids" or "how to stop snapping at my partner." Plain words on your practice website help the right clients recognize themselves. A starting point for the page where you describe how you work:

Name CBT only if you're trained in it. Don't describe your service as meeting a court's requirements unless the court or a state agency has told you it does. And don't offer anger management for domestic violence cases unless you run a certified batterer intervention program.

How this works in TranqBay

TranqBay is practice software for therapists in private practice: a practice website, online booking, video sessions and session notes in one place. Here's where anger management work fits.

At practice.tranqbay.health you can browse the practice website designs and sample sites, see where you'd describe anger work, and look at the booking page a new client would use to book a set of weekly sessions.

Frequently asked questions about anger management worksheets

Before your next session

Pick one client whose anger keeps costing them. Fill in the thermometer together from last week's worst moment, agree on a log number, and send them home with Worksheet 3. Next session, start with the log, before anything else.

If you're building a practice around this kind of structured, week-by-week work, see how TranqBay works for private practice: you can browse the practice website designs and sample sites, and see the booking page your clients would use to book their weekly sessions. If you're deciding whether to join, this page explains how joining TranqBay works.

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