The best treatments for anger and aggression

Anger and aggression are unwanted emotional and behavioral states, which does not mean that we can all suffer from anger attacks or aggressive problems at a certain time. In any case, they will be the exception and not the norm.

However, There are people who have grown up in the conflict. They have been developed assuming that anger and aggressiveness were a valid resource to resolve conflicts.

In certain adults, anger and aggressiveness – and in general, impulsivity – is part of their personality, the daily behavioral pattern they exhibit. In these cases, we need to apply specific psychological programs to prevent and eliminate anger and aggression.

Types of treatments for anger and aggression

There are fundamentally three approaches in psychological treatments for anger and aggression:

Aimed at physiological control through relaxation techniques.Control of cognitions focused on the use of self-instructions and cognitive restructuring.Techniques based on communication skillsproblem solving and negotiation.

Now that we know the different types of approaches, we will take a look at the treatments for anger and aggression that have shown the best results.

Novaco Anger Management Program (1995)

This program was developed early and is one of the longest running. Part of a series of theoretical principles:

People with social skills are able to respond assertively to provocations and are less likely to experience anger. Individuals with low self-esteem are more likely to respond to life events with aggression because they feel questioned.The most irascible people have a tendency to perceive incidents as confrontationswhich leads them to make decisions with a higher level of aggressiveness or defensiveness.Activation is a trigger for aggressionThe perception of control generated by the use of learned strategies is therapeutic in itself, since it decreases the probability of experiencing anger and increases the probability of more positive behaviors appearing.

This treatment has been used especially with people with functional diversity. Lindsay et al (2004) point out that the treatment was effective in reducing provocation and reducing general levels of anger.

Taylor et al (2004) found differences between pre- and post-treatment in the activation measures, in the control and expression of anger and in the global measure of aggressiveness of the Novaco scale.

Cognitive-behavioral intervention for anger control Deffenbacher and McKay (2000)

It is based on Novaco’s approach. Add relaxation as a fundamental element and the use of cognitive techniques after working on the more psychophysiological or activation aspects.

The intervention focuses on promoting effective coping strategies to manage anger.

The program living without violence by Enrique Echebúrua (2002)

This is a program (Echebúrua et al, 2002) focused on the area of ​​domestic abuse. and general violence. It is based on the general principles of cognitive behavioral therapy. The authors consider that the following should be done:

Do a job of accepting your own responsibility.Foster empathy and the expression of emotions by doing emotional re-education of the aggressive person. Work on the beliefs that lead people to behave violently.Analyze the cycle of violence (accumulation of tension, explosion, regret) and carry out training in specific strategies to control each of the phases.

The authors tested this treatment on men convicted of domestic violence. They identified significant changes in the cognitions that these men have towards their partners and towards the validity of violence as a means to resolve conflicts.

Changes also occurred in the capacity for self-control, both in impulse control and improvement in self-esteem and reduction of previous psychopathological symptoms.

Control of aggressive behavior by Goldstein and Keller (1991)

Violence is conceptualized as a sequence of behaviors and an intervention based on behavior modification techniques is proposed.

Aggression begins with an event that the individual interprets as very aversive.. This triggering and cognitive interpretation is accompanied by physiological manifestations that provide clues to the subject that anger is beginning. These first two stages can be managed with techniques such as self-instructions and relaxation.

Goldstein and Keller propose, as an important aspect of the intervention, training in prosocial values, based on the work of Kohlberg (1969) and its stages of moral development. So far there is no data on the effectiveness of the therapy, but the approach to moral values ​​as a cognitive mechanism for preventing violence is interesting.

Treatment by Fuller et al (2010)

It is a protocol based on rational emotive therapy (RET). It consists of 16 2-hour sessions, with the aim of developing coping skills.

Principles of therapy:

It is required to carry out homework. Emphasis is placed on patient motivation throughout the therapeutic process.Emphasizes the need to develop a comprehensive model of aggressiveness, adapted to each individual, to understand the reason for their actions. TRE is used for the discussion of irrational beliefs and self-instruction training.

Two key components of therapy:

Exposure in imagination to events that produce aggression and implementation of coping strategies to control it and Learning about the triggers of aggressiveness (thoughts, situations, feelings).

As behavioral skills, the program includes: problem solving, assertiveness training and relaxation. The authors work mainly with adolescents, demonstrating the effectiveness of the treatment.

Significant changes occur in the increase in coping strategies as well as significant differences in the rumination cycle, which causes an improvement in relapse prevention.

We must begin to conceptualize anger and aggression as emotional states that anyone can experience. Lifting the moral and stigmatizing gaze will allow all the previous psychological programs to be applied in a greater number of contexts and people, ensuring that families, relationships and societies can live in a context in which conflict can exist but free of violence.

You might be interested…