James Barrett, PhD

Ay good anger management program is going to teach de-escalation skills.  The problem that I have always had with traditional anger management programs is that they teach these skills without context.  If you tell a teen boy that he needs to take a deep breath, count to ten and walk away when he is mad he is likely going to look at you like you are nuts.  To make these skills a little more interesting and relevant you can teach boys about the fight or flight response that occurs in your body when angry.  Boys can often perk up when they learn that blood rushes to their limbs, the emotional part of their brain flares up, concentration becomes intense and focused and a burst of adrenaline rushes to your muscles when angry.  This is the body getting ready to “go at it.”  This process can be slowed down if the boy recognizes and learns the physiological cues that precede this process (flushed face, tense shoulders, clenched fists) and then relaxation breathing is used. The trick becomes getting boys to buy into slowing this process down.  I will talk about how we can do that in Part III coming soon…