Teaching healthy anger management

TOPIC. Teaching anger management in the community.

PURPOSE. To describe anger management and offer guidelines for assessing potential participants and teaching healthy behaviors.

SOURCES. Drawing from the literature, more than 10 years of quantitative and qualitative studies by our research team, and 5 years of experience in conducting anger management groups, the author presents basic principles of teaching anger management. A model is described for a 4-week group for women.

CONCLUSIONS. Anger management has wide applicability to a variety of constituencies for both primary and secondary prevention. Advanced practice psychiatric nurses are well-qualified to provide this psychoeducational intervention.