Anger management

• Why does anger exist?

  • Offender sees some situations as threatening and stressful.
  • The appraisal of the situation is irrational leading to negative and violent thoughts.
  • Anger is reinforced by the feelings of control they gain from being angry in the situation.
• -        Anger can be common response in situations that are perceived as anxiety-inducing or threatening.

  -        The individual is taught skills in anger management for how to handle the situation- we might not be able to change the situation, but we can change our approach to the situation.
• Stage 1: Cognitive preparation

  • Offender reflects on their past experiences and considers if there seems to be a pattern for their anger. 
  • The offender learns to identify those situations which act as a trigger and how their response is irrational.
• Step 2: Skills acquisition

  This stage involves introduction to a range of techniques and skills to help them deal with anger-provoking situations more rationally.

  Techniques can be:

  • Cognitive - positive self-talk
  • Behavioural - how to communicate more effectively.
  • Physiological methods of relaxation and meditation.
• Step 3: Application practice.

  • Therapist devises situations which the offender is able to demonstrate what skills they have been taught in a carefully monitored environment.
  • One way this is achieved is by reconstructing events when the offender has lost control in the past (role play).
• -        Anger management tries to tackle the actual causes of offending.

  o   E.g., rather than focusing on superficial surface behaviour, it attempts to address the thought processes that underlie offending behaviour.

  o   Experience of treatment programmes may give offenders new insight into the cause of their criminality enabling them to self-discover ways of managing themselves outside of the prison setting.

  o   From this point of view, it is logical to assume that anger management is more likely than behaviour modification to lead to permanent behavioural change.
• -        Follow up studies suggest anger management might have limited long term effectiveness.

  o   Blackburn summarises may only have short term effect.

  o   This may be because the application phase of treatment still relies heavily on artificial role play which might not properly reflect all the possible triggers that could be present in a real-life situation.

  o   As a result, anger management might not be as useful once out of the prison as it might initially seem, a weakness.
• -        Anger management may not be suitable for everyone.

  o   E.g. some offenders don’t like having to reflect on their styles of thinking.

  o   This is because they find it difficult to make the effort involved in changing their thoughts, attitudes and behaviours which can lead to individuals dropping out of voluntary anger management programmes.

  o   This shows that individual differences are important to consider when dealing with offending behaviour.
• -        Anger management programmes are expensive to run.

  o   This is because they require the services of highly trained specialists who are used to dealing with violent offenders.

  o   Many prisons may not have the resources to fund such programmes, so whether an offender can access such support may come down to luck ultimately.

  o   This accessibility of such a programme is problematic and means many offenders may miss an opportunity to rehabilitate.