anger management

• What is anger management ?

  Prisons are ‘anger factories‘ due to their climate

  • this encourages irrational thoughts + biases
• What are the 3 aims for anger management programmes ?

  1. Cognitive reconstructing
  2. regulation of arousal
  3. behavioural strategies
• What is cognitive reconstructing ?

  greater self awareness and control over cognition
• Regulation of arousal 


  Controlling physiological state
• Behavioural strategies ?


  Problem solving, strategic withdrawal and assertiveness
• What is a common rehabilitation programme. ?

  CBT

  • reduced emotional responses by challenging cognitive distortions and reframing anger
• What are the two aims of cbt ?

  1. Reduce anger and aggression in prisons (short term)
  2. reduce recidivism upon release (long term)
• How does CBt work ?

  • aims to change the way a person handle danger, it’s not possible to change the situation but it is for your thoughts + behaviour
  • manage anger by identifying triggers, develop techniques to resolve without violence and challenge reinforcement
  • used in custodial sentencing as part of probation programme
  • conducted in small groups with around 10 sessions
• What is anger management based on ?

  Stress inoculation approach

  3 steps :

  1. Cognitive preparation
  2. skill acquisition
  3. application training
• Cognitive preparation 


  Learning about anger, analysing their own patterns, identify triggers and reframing bias situations as aggressive
• Skill acquisition 


  Learning skills to help manage anger e.g relaxation
• Application training ?


  Applying the skills in the controlled and non-controlled role plays that previously made them angry

  • receive feedback
• What evidence is there from Ireland ?

  Assesses the effectiveness of 87 male young offenders

  • self report questionnaire provided a baseline of anger combined with prison officer reports
  • 50 took part in the treatment
  • found 92% reduction in anger levels but no change in the control group
• Evaluation ?

  1. research support
  2. programmes are voluntary
  3. difficult to research
• Voluntary ?


  CBT + anger management are voluntary

  • some offenders may not want to reflect or change their behaviour
  • leads to drop outs which can be addressed by assessing offender readiness before they start the programme
• Difficult to research ?

  time frames are varied(days to years)

  • courses are not always run by professionals (prison staff)
  • offenders have varied crimes and backgrounds
  • self report Measures are biased and offenders may portray themselves as better to benefit the researcher