S2 EP 19 - Anger & Reactivity: Under Pressure
2/24/202616 min
Anger feels fast. Powerful. Loud. But what’s really underneath it?
In this special, kid-requested episode, Suzanne M. Swain, EDS, LMSW — child therapist, educational specialist, and veteran middle school teacher — talks directly to tweens and teens about anger in a world that feels a little… charged.
Why does anger rise so quickly? What’s actually happening in your brain when you react? And how can choosing calm make you stronger — not weaker?
Suzanne breaks down:
Why anger is often a “cover emotion” hiding fear, embarrassment, hurt, or feeling out of controlWhy you are not responsi...
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSuzanne M. Swain· Host0:00
[upbeat music] Well, hey, y'all. It's a beautiful day to bust some cognitive distortions, and today we're gonna bust some about anger. Well, hi. My name is Suzanne M. Swain, EDS, LMSW. I'm an educational specialist, child therapist, and a veteran middle school teacher. And today's episode is a little bit different than something I've normally done before, but this is at the request of some of my kiddos, some of my children that I see on the day-to-day, and they've asked me to do an episode about this specific topic, so this one's for you. So folks, this one's mostly for the kids, and grown-ups, of course, we want you to listen, and I hope that you do. But today I wanna speak directly to middle schoolers, teens, tweens, and all y'all folks. The world feels kinda charged right now, good, bad, otherwise, but it feels like there's an energy shift. There's something going on, and, you know, maybe it's the new year, you know, Chinese New Year, maybe there's, you know, all ki- different things going on. But there's just a, a lot of charged energy. And so today I wanna talk about three things, why anger rises so quickly and in us and in adults. Also, how to stop reactivity before it starts to take over you, because anger can really consume