Anger Management - Forensic Psychology

ANGER MANAGEMENT…
- This assumes that offenders commit crimes because they cannot control their anger.
- It is a form of CBT that focuses on learning to control anger and respond in more appropriate ways by changing your thinking patterns.
- However, it isn’t applicable to all forms of crime – only violent ones.

THE AIM IS TO…teach offenders to recognize their own feelings of anger, control their angry behaviour and resolve conflict in positive ways.

There are three stages to anger management:

1. Cognitive preparation: learning to recognize feelings of anger and to recognize events and situations that trigger anger.
2. Skill acquisition: teaching techniques to control anger in difficult situations (e.g. positive self-talk to keep calm). Relaxation techniques such as deep breathing can also be used.
3. Application practice: formerly anger-provoking situations are re-entered and the offender practices controlling anger using the newly acquired techniques.

Ireland (2000) studied the usefulness of a group-based anger management programme with young male offenders. Pre-programme and post-programme anger scores for an experimental group of 50 prisoners were compared with scores taken from a control group of 37 prisoners who received no treatment. The groups were matched for age, type of offence and anger level. The anger levels were assessed using a behaviour checklist and a self-report measure. The experimental group showed significantly reduced anger – with 92% having improved on at least one measure (only 8% deteriorated) and 48% improving on both measures. This shows that this programme can successfully reduce anger and disruptive behaviour.

P: There is limited long-term effectiveness
E: Blackburn (1993) pointed out that whilst anger management is effective in reducing anger in the short-term, there is no clear that such programmes reduce recidivism-rates in the long-term.
E: This may be because the application phrase of the treatment relies heavily on artificial role play which may not properly reflect all the possible triggers that could be present in a real-life situation
E+: This therefore suggests that it may not be an effective treatment programme to use

P: Unlike Behaviour Modification, Anger Management attempts to address the thought processes that underlie offending behaviour.
E: This helps the offender to develop insight into their own behaviour, enabling them to self-discover other ways of managing their problem.
E: This suggests that it is more likely to lead to permanent behavioural changes and lower rates of recidivism, compared to other forms of treatment like Behaviour Modification.

P: AM programmes are expensive to run as they require the services of a highly trained specialist
E: Many prison may not have the resources to fund such programmes
E: Not all prisoners may have access to it and therefore it’s limited in its application and usefulness