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By Brendan O'Neill

If there's one emotion you are supposed to keep bottled up, it's anger - which means big business for anyone giving lessons to those who find it difficult to control themselves. But is anger as bad as it's made out to be?

"I have never seen a more flagrant contempt of court", said Scottish judge Roderick MacDonald last month, after a teenage girl giving evidence in his courtroom swore at him and told him where to go.

How did he punish the 15-year-old? By putting her on probation for a year and ordering her to attend anger management classes.

"Anger management" is all the rage - not only for youngsters who fall foul of the law, but for stressed-out bosses who bark at their workers, tense school kids who display signs of bullying behaviour, and football managers who take their frustrations out on the "effing ref".

There's no shortage of anger these days, and of classes and consultants to help tame it. What's lacking is evidence that they work.

By Jeff Gammage
Inquirer Staff Writer

Before Indiana Pacers forward Ron Artest went crashing into the stands, touching off an ugly chair-tossing brawl and a vociferous national debate, he spent time in a program designed to prevent just such an eruption:

Anger management.

Today, a few short years after it simmered to prominence, anger-management training has become widely accepted and zealously applied, embraced by Fortune 500 companies selling anything from produce to propane and federal-government agencies supervising anyone from probationers to postal workers.

It's a favorite tool for judges who want to avoid packing more people into overcrowded prisons, for corporate bosses who want their executives to please stop shouting, and for sports directors from pee-wee to pro who wish their grown-up players, fans and coaches would behave like, well, grown-ups.

But the enormous popularity of anger-management training raises a single pressing question:

Does it work?

By MAX SEIGLE 11/11/2004, Medill News Service

Lynette Hoy has been a counselor for 16 years, but just recently added a new specialty: anger management.

"I would say this is definitely a growing field," said Hoy, of CounselCare Connection in Oak Park.

Just last year, the American Association of Anger Management Providers was created and currently includes about 136 providers nationwide. Co-founder and anger management counselor George Anderson says the emotional aftermath of Sept. 11 catapulted anger management into the public arena.

"After 9-11, the entire world was destabilized," he said. "Suddenly you have all of these referrals."

Anderson said the American Psychological Association is working on establishing anger management as a recognized mental illness.

"Anger management is definitely the 'in' thing," said Steve Kelly, an anger management specialist with The Success Center in south suburban Lansing.

The unprecedented nature of the Sept. 11 attacks fuels hostility, experts say. Rather than being a state of reckless confusion, rage fuels the will to fight for survival.

By BENEDICT CAREY, Times Health Writer

The wide eyes and swollen features, the twitching around the mouth: Anger may be the most frightening of our elemental emotions. Yet many Americans have felt it deeply since Sept. 11 and say the sensation has intruded on their thoughts, affected their relationships and remained surprisingly strong, even months after the events.

"The feeling goes so deep inside, I don't know if the word 'anger' even covers it," said Joyce Glenn, 50, a Roman Catholic lay minister and peace activist in Omaha.

Marian Gaston, 30, a public defender in San Diego, recognizes the feeling. While talking with her husband about U.S. goals in Afghanistan, she heard herself say: "I don't care what the goals are, I'm ready to go slit (Osama bin Laden's) throat myself." She shuddered at the recollection. "I don't think I have ever said anything like that."

In interviews during the last several weeks, dozens of counselors, psychiatrists and clergy across the country said they were seeing evidence of increased anger among clients, friends and neighbors.

"We have seen enormous anger response throughout our whole system," said James Pruett, executive director of Methodist Counseling and Consultation Services, which runs 18 clinics in the Charlotte, N.C., area. "People are angry that their lives are disrupted, they're angry when they have to travel, angry at their bosses." The vast majority connect their anger to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the aftermath.

Courts: Many judges order offenders to take courses to control their tempers. But there are no standards for such classes and teachers may have no training in the field.

By ANNA GORMAN, TIMES STAFF WRITER

Sandra Whatley threw a soda at a police officer who stopped her for jaywalking. Kazutoshi Yakota brawled with a fellow college student over a woman. Moheb Helmy got into a shouting match with his mother and yelled at the cop who came to break it up.

The explosions landed all three in Los Angeles courtrooms--and as a result, in anger management classes. At the weekly sessions that are part of their sentences, they discuss their outbursts and describe their feelings in their anger control workbooks. The aim is to learn how to reduce rage by taking timeouts, breathing deeply and using such phrases as "I did wrong" rather than "When will you ever learn?"

Criminal and traffic court judges in California are increasingly using such programs to punish--and treat--defendants convicted of battery, road rage and disturbing the peace. Anger management classes, however, are not certified or monitored by state or local agencies. With the exception of Orange County, there are no court-approved lists of programs or guidelines on class length, curriculum or teacher qualifications. In fact, some teachers have no training at all.

"Anybody can set up a program, call it anger management and hope to get court referrals," said Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Peter Meeka. "You keep your fingers crossed and hope they are doing a good job."

By Alex Rocha
Saturday, June 8, 2002

Angry teen-agers oftentimes become angry adults.

And the 10-member team at Total Self Insight, a new Merced business, knows Merced County doesn't need more angry adults.

So Total Self Insight is dedicated to helping young people, and adults, manage their anger and make better choices in their lives.

The business, which opened on May 1, is headed by Valerie and Shannon Anthony, mother and daughter who are committed to helping teen-agers and adults in need of anger management.

Valerie says, "Our goal is to have individuals develop an understanding of self and to make better life choices by successful completion of our program."

The idea of running a private business has always been in the back of Valerie's mind. She currently works as a mental health social worker, running a dual-diagnosis program at an outpatient clinic in Modesto. But that will end Aug. 1.

She now works one day per week at Total Self Insight, and Shannon works the rest of the week.

Outbursts of rage land plenty of people in prison, and daily life behind bars provides many more opportunities to lose your temper. Whch makes it the ideal place to get to grips with the often scoffed-at anger management course. Does it work? Zoe Williams follows the progress of five Pentonville inmates to find out.

Zoe Williams
Saturday November 15, 2003
The Guardian

Anger management is the least celebrated branch of the cognitive therapy tree; its main reputation is as a quasi-scientific means of controlling stroppy supermodels who've shouted at the stylist once too often. Naomi Campbell, I mean - not all supermodels are like this. Unlike cognitive training for anxiety and depression, with which it shares all the same principles and most of the same techniques, this tends to be the kind of therapy to which you are referred by an institution, rather than deciding upon yourself. I can't with complete certainty say why, but ultimately anger, unless it manifests itself in violence, is not thought of as a mental disorder that adversely affects the quality of your life. It's just put down as a filthy temper. And if it does express itself as violence, then, sooner or later, you're going to end up in prison.

Story By Peter Sanders, Daily Breeze

John Elder seems an unlikely person to illustrate examples of workplace anger.

The 43-year-old anger management counselor exudes a calmness projected by his uiet manner and the small yin-yang earring that peeks from behind his long brown hair.

He sits in a chair and relates the story of a screaming match between an employee and his boss that became so heated, the nearly 500-person calling center came to a standstill to watch the argument.

Although the fight didn't end in violence and the valued sales employee kept his job, the company -- a major Torrance corporation -- sent the man to anger management training.

The training is an increasingly popular tool for companies trying to help employees cope with workplace anger, according to consultants and company representatives. more...

George Anderson, MSW, BCD, CEAP
CEO, Anderson & Anderson
Fellow, American Orthopsychiatric Association
Diplomate, American Association of Anger Management Providers

Emotional intelligence is the capacity to create positive incomes in relationship to others and ourselves. It is the practice of being aware, understanding, appropriately expressing and handling emotional states in ourselves and others. Emotional intelligence is an important skill to acquire because of its usefulness in leadership, sales, marriage and interpersonal relationships at work, school and families. It is a skill which can be developed and/or enhanced at any point in our lives.

The Anderson and Anderson model of anger management intervention is one of the first curriculums to incorporate emotional intelligence as a key component of the skills taught in its anger management classes as well as executive coaching. The other components of this model include stress management, communication and anger management. All of these four key concepts are woven throughout the curricula as well as the group exercises, videos and CDs used to teach participants not only how to manage anger but also how to manage stress, improve communication and enhance emotional intelligence.

Before being admitted into any of our programs, a computer scored Anger Management Map is administered. This assessment component determines the client's level of functioning in the following areas, anger management, stress management, emotional intelligence and communications. Skills in these four areas are the topics taught in the Anderson & Anderson model of intervention programs.

While an individual may initially enroll in an anger management class as a referral from the court, Human Resource Manager, Employee Assistance Program or spouse, once in the class, he or she will quickly recognizes the value of using these skills in all other aspects of his or her daily functioning. Emotional intelligence is by far the most popular of the four modules mentioned above. It is closely related to empathy, sensitivity to others, compassion and self awareness. It is what distinguishes persons who make you feel comfortable, optimistic, laugh and feel good about yourself from those who you avoid because their negativism is contagious and tends to cause you to feel gloom and discomfort.

Currently, in the United States , Canada , England and Bermuda, the largest number of referrals to anger management programs using the Anderson & Anderson model are from businesses, and governmental agencies, including Hospitals. These organizations tend to be most concerned about the bottom line, productivity, profit and good morale. Understanding the powerful role of emotions in the workplace sets the best leaders apart from the rest not just in tangibles such as better results and the retention of talent, but also in the all-important intangibles, such as higher morale, motivation, and commitment.

Some case examples
Fifteen percent of participants in our anger management classes are self referred. Several months ago a young father joined one of our Saturday accelerated classes because he was concerned over his growing impatience and negative response to his infant son. During his first session, he quickly realized that this “impatience” was also occurring at his business where he was responsible for managing fifty employees. He also acknowledged being frequently abrasive in his style of communicating with his wife. Over a ten session period, he was able to see a change in his relationship with others as well as his self-esteem as he began making changes in his sensitivity to others and using assertive communication rather than passive aggressive or aggressive communication.

In another example, an executive of a major Motion Picture Company was ordered to attend an executive coaching/anger management class as a result of verbal abuse exhibited in a meeting directed to one of his senior staff. Initially, this executive denied the need for help and protested his referral to an anger management program. During his initial assessment interview, the focus was on his style of communication, (aggressive) level of stress, (high) emotional intelligence (low) and finally his skills in managing anger which was poor. It was determined in the assessment session that he may benefit from developing skills in emotional intelligence, stress management, communication and finally anger management. During his ten week individual coaching sessions, he was promoted at his company and received a hefty raise. After one year, he is now an advocate in his company for emotional intelligence for all managers and supervisors.

Forty percent of our referrals come from business and industry. Self-referrals are the third largest source of referrals to our classes. Many of our new referrals come from participants who have successfully completed either executive coaching or anger management classes.

In our third example, a man decided to take his toddler son for a ride on his Harley Davidson Motorcycle. A neighbor reported the incident to the police and he was subsequently arrested and charged with child endangerment and ordered to attend a one year anger management class with a focus of emotional intelligence. Not only did he express appreciation for the Judge who sentenced him, he also recommended that his local public Adult Education High School offer anger management and emotional intelligence to the community as a public service. 30% of anger management referrals come from the criminal justice system which includes the courts, probation and parole.

Just as laughter offers a ready barometer of emotional intelligence at work, so rampant anger, fear, apathy, or even sullen silence signals the opposite. In a survey of more that a thousand U.S. workers, 42 per cent reported incidences of yelling and other kinds of verbal abuse in their workplaces, and almost 30 percent admitted to having yelled at a co-worker themselves. Such disturbing encounters wreak havoc emotionally, as demonstrated in studies in which physiological response were monitored during arguments. Such attacks which send the painful emotional messages of disgust or contempt emotionally hijack the person targeted, particularly when the attack is a spouse or boss, whose opinions carry mush weight.

Emotional intelligence is a relatively new concept which holds considerable promise in teaching us the skills to relate to each other which leads to positive outcomes in many areas of human interaction. Currently it is the newest rage in Human Resource and Organizational Development consultation and training.

In order to increase our product sales and marketing efforts, we are offering any mental health practitioner, substance abuse or anger management provider with a viable website to sell all of our material on their site. For any sales which are made from your site, we will pay 15% of the sale total. We will also list you as a marketing affiliate.
For information contact our office at 310-207-3591.

“Gaining Control of Ourselves” as well as “Controlling Ourselves” the adult and adolescence anger management workbooks respectively has both been revised to include graphics.

When these publications were first written, it was our modest hope that they would be used in some of the local anger management programs in Los Angeles County. That these aims and hopes were realized is attested to by the fact that this curriculum is now the most widely used anger management curriculum in the world.

The Anderson & Anderson anger management curricula and client material is published in Spanish, Italian and English. Our Anderson & Anderson Certified Provider List is the industry standard worldwide. Our providers routinely receive referrals from multinational companies and Employee Assistance Programs from many countries. Anderson & Anderson trained providers are currently in the U.S., Canada, Guam, Ireland, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Italy, Bermuda and the Philippines. This model has been approved the U. S. Department of Defense, California State Board of Corrections, California Board of Nursing, California Board of Behavior Science, California Association of Alcohol and Drug Counselors, California Association of Drug and Alcohol Educators.

The Anderson & Anderson anger management facilitation training is approved by the Texas commission of Juvenile Probation, Texas Board of Substance Abuse Counselors, Bermudan Department of Probation, and Canadian Department of Mental Health and the Italian Bureau of Prisons. All of the above material is user friendly with state of the art CDs and videos.