Anger thermometer for adults: a printable 0 to 10 scale

Where numeric anger scales come from

Two US government programmes for adults use a numbered anger scale like this one. Both call theirs an “anger meter”, not a thermometer.

The anger management manual from SAMHSA, the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, uses a scale from 1 to 10. A 1 is “a complete lack of anger or a total state of calm”. A 10 is intense anger with the feeling that you may lose control, leading to negative consequences. The manual gives no labels for 2 to 9. It says only that they stand for anger between those two extremes. It says one person’s 5 may be another’s 7, and that it matters more to get familiar with your own readings.

The US Department of Veterans Affairs (the VA) uses a 1 to 10 Anger Meter in its anger course for veterans, with 10 as most angry and 1 as least.

Rating distress with a number isn’t unique to anger. A 2025 review credits the Subjective Units of Distress Scale, or SUDS, to Wolpe and Lazarus in 1966. Its original instructions anchor it on anxiety: 0 is absolutely calm, and 100 is the worst anxiety you’ve had or can imagine. The review’s authors write that “caution is warranted when interpreting SUDS scores” until the scale’s measurement properties are better established. That’s one critical review, and of a different scale. Nothing here makes an anger thermometer a validated instrument.

How this anger thermometer differs from the anger meter

The anger thermometer on this page differs from the anger meter in two ways. Both are my design choices.

It runs from 0 to 10, where the SAMHSA and VA meters run from 1 to 10. And it prints a word for each of six bands, where they define only the two ends:

• 0: Calm
• 1 to 2: Mildly annoyed
• 3 to 4: Irritated
• 5 to 6: Frustrated
• 7 to 8: Angry
• 9 to 10: Furious

The bands and words are the ones used in Kettle, my daily anger journal (coming soon to iPhone). Kettle asks how frustrated you were from 0 to 10, so the sheet and the journal share one scale.

Printed words pull against the SAMHSA manual’s advice to make the scale your own, so treat them as a starting point. If “Frustrated” isn’t your 5, cross it out and write your own word. The manual is published with a public domain notice, which doesn’t mean SAMHSA endorses this sheet.

How to fill in the anger thermometer

Fill in the anger thermometer when you’re calm. You’ll be reading it when you’re angry, so the thinking has to be done before then.

1. Start at the bottom row, 0, and work up.
2. Under “What I notice in my body and thoughts”, write the physical signs you get at that level, and any thought that tends to come with them. The SAMHSA manual’s examples are a rapid heartbeat, tightness in the chest and feeling hot or flushed.
3. Under “What I tend to do”, write what someone else would see. The manual’s examples are pacing, clenching fists, raising your voice and staring.
4. Under “What helps at this level”, write what has brought you down a level before. The VA’s list of tools includes timeouts, deep breathing and muscle relaxation. That’s their list, not a promise, and an empty box is fine.
5. Under “The level where I need to step away”, pick a number below your top one, then write where you’ll go or what you’ll say when you get there. SAMHSA’s meter tells readers they have a choice lower down, and to use their plan to avoid reaching 10.

A filled-in example

The example below is made up to show how much to write. It isn’t mine and it isn’t advice. The body signs and behaviours come from SAMHSA’s examples, and the last column from the VA’s list.

Level	What I notice in my body and thoughts	What I tend to do	What helps at this level
3 to 4, Irritated	Tightness in my chest	Staring	Deep breathing
7 to 8, Angry	Feeling hot, rapid heartbeat	Raising my voice, pacing	A timeout

The level where I need to step away: 7. I’ll say I need a break and go outside.

Is the anger thermometer just for kids?

No. The anger thermometer on this page is for adults, and the scale has adult precedents. SAMHSA’s manual says it’s designed for adults aged 18 and older who have substance use and mental health conditions, and the VA uses its meter in a course for veterans. SAMHSA’s manual wasn’t written for the general public.

Thermometer pictures are used with children too. A 2016 report from one psychiatric hospital for children and adolescents describes a Feelings Thermometer where residents pointed to a face on a scale running from cool to on fire.

Does rating your anger reduce it?

None of the sources cited on this page tests whether rating anger intensity, on its own, lowers anger. That isn’t proof that no such study exists.

Whole programmes have better evidence. A 2018 review of meta-analyses found anger treatments have “consistently demonstrated at least moderate effectiveness” (abstract only). In SAMHSA’s programme the meter is one part of a package combining relaxation, cognitive and communication skills, and the manual says there’s been no research into using its materials for self-study, which is what a printable worksheet is.

In one study of 60 Australian veterans with problem anger (again, abstract only), anger symptoms fell over 10 days of repeated self-monitoring. It had no control group, so the drop can’t be credited to the monitoring.

The SAMHSA manual gives the purpose of its meter as monitoring anger as it moves up the scale. That’s all I’d claim for this sheet: it’s for noticing earlier.

What to do after you’ve filled it in

The anger thermometer describes your levels. For a record of your days, pair it with the daily anger log, one of the other free worksheets. It uses the same 0 to 10 scale.

If you’re often in the top band, or what happens there frightens you or the people around you, a worksheet isn’t enough. Talk to a professional. Signs of anger issues describes what problem anger can look like, but only a professional can assess you. Get help has places to start.