Local therapist helps combat mental illness caused by anger issues

Violence, mass shootings and chaos. This has been the reality for many Americans the last few months.

“I think you’re certainly aware of the problem we have in this country today with violence,” said Dr. Michael Woulas, a psychotherapist.

All of these heinous acts have a few things in common—weapons and mental illness. And though each of these crimes are different, experts believe they all have a common thread.

“They’re not getting to the root cause of violence, which in my opinion is anger,” Woulas said.

Dr. Woulas practices in Southwest Florida and says the country has a lack of options to tackle violence and anger. So he’s now doing something about it.

“That’s one of the main motivators for the workshop—to help with this problem that is growing daily,” Woulas said.

Shelby and Troy Bolivar took Dr. Woulas’ anger workshop.

“It’s kinda something that’s not talked about, like oh someone is crazy if they have a disorder or depression,” they said.

The couple says it helped tackle issues in their own marriage. But anyone could benefit from the class.

“It’s not just for married couples. It’s for individuals that struggle with anger problems,” they said.

Dr. Woulas believes a targeted effort to unpack and understand anger issues in everyday life has the potential to help people before they let that anger turn into violence. And it all starts with getting the right help.

Dr. Woulas says his workshop is a few hours long. And he tackles everything from environmental to biological causes of anger.