target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="#fb3_img_img_1ebbef9c-b4fb-5212-9e8b-0ba709c8e5be.png" alt="icon"/>Learn and implement assertive communication skills for addressing frustration and anger in an honest, appropriate, respectful, and direct manner. (29)
Use skills-training interventions (e.g. instruction, modeling, role-playing, rehearsal, and practice) to help the client learn and implement assertive communication, highlighting its distinctive elements as well as the pros and cons of assertive, unassertive (passive), and aggressive communication (or supplement with Your Perfect Right by Alberti & Emmons or with “Assertive Communication of Anger” in the Adult Psychotherapy Homework Planner by Jongsma & Bruce).
Learn and implement problem-solving/solution-finding skills and/or conflict resolution skills to address personal and interpersonal problems. (30, 31, 32)
Use skills-training interventions (e.g. instruction, modeling, role-playing, rehearsal, and practice) to help the client learn and implement problem-solving/solution-finding skills (e.g., defining the problem clearly, brainstorming multiple solutions, listing the pros and cons of each solution, seeking input from others, selecting and implementing a plan of action, evaluating the outcome, and readjusting the plan as necessary), or supplement with “Problem Solving: An Alternative to Impulsive Action” in the Adult Psychotherapy Homework Planner by Jongsma & Bruce.
Use skills-training interventions (e.g. instruction, modeling, role-playing, rehearsal, and practice) to help the client learn and implement conflict resolution skills (e.g., empathy, active listening, “I messages,” respectful communication, assertiveness without aggression, problem solving, compromise).
Conduct conjoint sessions to help the client implement new personal and interpersonal skills (e.g. assertion, problem solving, and/or conflict resolution skills) with his/her/their significant other (or supplement with “Applying Problem Solving to Interpersonal Conflict” in the Adult Psychotherapy Homework Planner by Jongsma & Bruce).
Combine learned anger management skills into a new approach to handling frustration. (33).
Assist the client in adopting a client-tailored strategy for managing anger that combines any of the somatic, cognitive, communication, problem-solving, and/or conflict resolution skills relevant to their needs.
Practice using new anger management skills in session with the therapist and during homework exercises. (34, 35).
Select situations in which the client will be increasingly challenged to apply his/her/their new strategies for managing anger; create a hierarchy to guide practice of these situations.
Use any of several techniques, including relaxation, imagery, behavioral rehearsal, modeling, role-playing, or in vivo exposure/behavioral experiments to help the client consolidate and generalize the use of his/her/their new anger management skills into daily life.
Decrease the number, intensity, and duration of angry outbursts, while increasing the use of new skills for preventing or managing anger. (36)
Monitor the client's reports of anger episodes toward the goal of decreasing their frequency and increasing adaptive management through the client's use of new anger management skills (or supplement with “Alternatives to Destructive Anger” in the Adult Psychotherapy Homework Planner by Jongsma & Bruce); review progress, reinforcing success, and providing supportive corrective feedback toward sustained improvement.
Discuss with the client the distinction between a lapse and relapse, associating a lapse with an initial and reversible angry outburst and relapse with the choice to return routinely to his/her/their old pattern of anger.
Identify and rehearse with the client the management of future situations or circumstances in which lapses back into maladaptive anger could occur.
Instruct the client to routinely use new anger management strategies learned in therapy (e.g. calming, adaptive self-talk, assertion, and/or conflict resolution) to prevent or respond to frustrations.
Develop a “coping card” or other reminder on which new anger management skills and other important information (e.g. “Recognize moments to stop, think, and act,” “Calm yourself,” “Be flexible in your expectations,” “Voice your opinion calmly,” “Respect others' points of view”) are recorded for the client's later use.
Schedule periodic “maintenance sessions” to help the client maintain therapeutic gains.
Identify social supports that will help facilitate the implementation of anger
target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="#fb3_img_img_1ebbef9c-b4fb-5212-9e8b-0ba709c8e5be.png" alt="icon"/>Learn and implement assertive communication skills for addressing frustration and anger in an honest, appropriate, respectful, and direct manner. (29)
