Anger management

• Anger management

  Used in prisons as part of the rehabilitation process
• Anger management

  • It's a form of CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy)
• Aims of using anger management in prison

  • Short-term aim: Reducing aggression within prisons
  • Long-term aim: Reducing recidivism
• Anger management programmes

  1. Cognitive preparation

  2. Skill acquisition

  3. Application practice
• Cognitive preparation

  • Offender will reflect on past experiences and consider their own patterns of anger
  • Identify anger-provoking situations
  • If the way the offender interprets these situations is irrational, the therapist will make this clear to them
• Skill acquisition

  • Offender is introduced to a range of skills to help them deal with anger-provoking situations more rationally and effectively
  • Cognitive skills include positive self-talk
  • Behavioural skills include assertiveness training and social skills training
  • Physiological skills include methods of relaxation
• Application practice

  • Offenders are given the opportunity to practice their skills within a carefully monitored environment
  • This can be done using role play, and is likely to involve the offender and the therapist reenacting the scenarios that may have escalated feeling of anger in the past
  • Requires commitment from the offender and bravery from the therapist
  • Successful negotiation of the role play would be met by positive reinforcement from the therapist
• Strength of anger management programmes

  • There is evidence to support their effectiveness
  • Anger management is thought to be more effective than behaviour modification because it tackles the thought processes that underlie offending behaviour
• Weakness of anger management programmes

  • Evidence does not support their long-term effectiveness
  • They are expensive to run and require highly trained specialists
  • Success depends on the commitment of participants