Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Anger Management

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy – Anger Management

As human beings we experience a range of emotions, some negative and some positive. Negative emotions in which people often seek psychological or mental health treatment include depression, anxiety and anger. While anger management is a common treatment modality, there is no official diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – IV-TR that pertains to clinically significant anger. While the diagnosis of Intermittent Explosive Disorder often involves bouts of anger, the feeling of anger is not necessary to qualify for such a diagnosis.

Anger

Anger is an emotion experienced by human beings and has an evolutionary origin. Anger, and the behaviors that accompany the emotion, have contributed to the survival of our species. For example, to protect oneself and one's family in the face of enemies, anger is a useful emotion to combat others. However, in current times anger often leads to problematic interpersonal relationships, rather than constructive ones. Anger involves experiencing an intense feeling and physiological response, including increased heart rate, increased blood pressure and changes in facial expressions and voice. Anger can significantly affect one interpersonal relationships to the point where people often seek cognitive behavioral therapy, including anger management. Cognitive behavioral therapy has been shown to be effective in the treatment of anger and aggression.

Aggression

Aggression is often referred to as a display of anger. Aggression is often an overt act committed by someone who is angry, such as hitting another person, throwing objects, yelling or screaming. However, one may behave aggressively, without experiencing the emotion and anger. For example, a hitman may be paid to physically regress toward another person, although not experience the emotion of anger when committing such an act. Anger and aggression are often used interchangeably, however, the field of psychology tends to recognize anger as an internal state and aggression as an overt behavior.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for the Treatment of Anger

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on how one's cognitions (or thoughts) affect his/her feelings and behaviors. With regard to anger management, cognitive behavioral therapists identify the client's maladaptive thoughts, such as blaming another person for his/her angry feelings, and restructuring those thoughts so that they are more adaptive and thereby alleviate or lesson the angry feeling. Thoughts typically associated with anger involve "catastrophizing," meaning that one perceives a rather inconsequential events as something catastrophic. For example, if one is driving and another car cuts him off, he perceives this event as catastrophic and may have the cognition, "This idiot should not cut me off! It is horrible that he did that!" The cognitive behavioral therapist works with the client to help him restructure this thought, so as not to perceive the event as something larger than it actually is. For example, the therapist may teach the client to say something like, "While it is not preferable for someone to cut me off, I realize that not everyone will follow my rules of driving." Cognitive behavioral therapists, especially those treating anger, often point out that the client uses the word "should" in their cognitions. The cognitive behavioral therapist works with the client's to eliminate the use of the word "should," since placing those types of demands on oneself or other people often leads to a negative emotion, since no one can follow a "should" rule all the time.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has been shown to be quite effective in treating anger. One type of technique involves deep breathing and relaxation techniques. The clinician can teach the client how to remove himself from the anger provoking situation and conduct deep breathing exercises to calm down before reentering the situation. A cognitive behavioral therapist may teach the angry clients to take 10 deep breaths before addressing the anger provoking situation.

For an updated, more in-depth look at this topic, see An Open Trial of a Comprehensive Anger Treatment Program.