The Anger Control Workbook [Paperback]

Matthew McKay (Author), Peter Rogers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 30, 2000

The Anger Control Workbook offers a new and highly effective approach to anger control that gives you the tools you need to manage anger in your day-to-day life. You’ll get a deeper understanding of how anger affects all areas of your life—both physically and emotionally—and within a few weeks feel the benefits of controlling destructive anger. This workbook shows you how to practice new coping behaviors that allow you to gain control in anger-stimulating situations. Throughout, the techniques are streamlined and presented in a clear, step-by-step format, including numerous exercises and worksheets. It’s arranged to make it as easy as possible to put together a program tailored to your own personal obstacles and triggers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The Anger Control Workbook “…carefully and clearly shows how feelings of anger rip up people’s guts, destroy their relationships, and have many other disadvantages…Indicates how readers can constructively work—and keep working—to minimize anger and rage…Includes many exceptionally useful and practical self-help techniques and exercises. A fine workbook!”
—Albert Ellis, Ph.D., President, Albert Ellis Instistute, New York, and author, A Guide to Rational Living

“In The Anger Control Workbook, the reader learns by showing and telling…by rehearsing, trying out, and modifying. Delightfully, it addresses issues sometimes overlooked in self-help material…why anger is hard to give up and reasons why change may be difficult. McKay and Rogers provide a clear, concise, highly readable and user-friendly book on personal anger reduction. A good book to become a scuffed-up friend in the continued efforts at anger reduction.”
—Jerry Deffenbacher, Ph.D., Anger Researcher, professor, Dept. of Psychology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins

“…anyone reading this book and working the exercises will certainly develop the skills with which they can really control their anger and live happier lives. A job well done that helps people cope with the frustrations of day to day life.”
—Dr. Ronald T. Potter-Efron, Ph.D., author, Letting Go of Anger, Angry All the Time, and Working Anger

About the Author

Matthew McKay, PhD

is a professor at the Wright Institute in Berkeley, CA. He has authored and coauthored numerous books, including The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook, Self-Esteem, Thoughts and Feelings, When Anger Hurts, and ACT on Life Not on Anger. His books combined have sold more than 2.5 million copies. McKay received his PhD in clinical psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology. In private practice, he specializes in the cognitive behavioral treatment of anxiety and depression.

 

 

 

 

 

Peter Rogers, Ph.D., was the administrative director of Haight Ashbury Psychological Services. He was the coauthor of When Anger Hurts, The Divorce Book, The Anger Control Workbook,and The Community Building Companion.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: New Harbinger Publications; 1 edition (December 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572242205
• ISBN-13: 978-1572242203
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,984 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #44 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Mental Health > Mood Disorders
  • #55 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Mental Health > Emotions

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

73 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Complete perfection in self-help book writing that actually WORKS, April 7, 2007

By 

Self Helper "Self-helper" (Fort Lauderdale) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Anger Control Workbook (Paperback)

A while back, I was lucky to get a hold of a book called The Authoritative Guide to Self-Help Books. The book is a result of a well-respected study that rates hundreds of self-help books/films/websites for various disorders such as depression, anger, obesity, anxiety, low self-esteem and so on to see if they deliver self-help. In the anger category, the only book found to be highly effective (5 stars) was the book I am reviewing.

This is the most concise book I've seen on this complex subject about 150 pages), but it's the essence of all I needed.

In my opinion, a self help book is good if:

1. It's simple, clear and free of psychobabble with a minimum of stories of non-existent humans;

2. It doesn't dwell excessively on the past no matter how sad, but rather encourages action to change;

3. The issues feel relevant and you see the application to your unique situation immediately;

4. It is scientifically proven to work. It does not promise you easy and quick results but realistic and common-sense;


The Anger Control Workbook is such self-help book.

It starts by teaching you how to relax on demand. Try to be angry when you are completely relaxed-it's impossible.

Relaxation is a skill that you perfect with 20-minute daily practice. You use this skill to temporarily calm yourself and buy time so that you can plead and reason with yourself not to act impulsively and cause an unrepairable damage.

Then, the book addresses your thought and belief system and helps to correct some of the distortions that are surely lurking there. Automatic and unnoticed distortions provide fertile ground for anger. They help sustain and justify its philosophical existence by painting all sorts of seemingly inevitable catastrophes and threats to a fragile inner children. Authors say, testing and correcting your silent dialog is the most important step in gaining control in any mood change, a.k.a. cognitive therapy.

Finally, the book teaches you how to inoculate yourself against various situations that make you angry by preventing any outbursts in the future. You compile the description of the situations that tick you off and deal with them on your own terms-at home while you are totally relaxed and safe by imagining yourself in the hot situation, while desensitizing yourself, until you get in control.

Often times, I actually found myself memorizing some of the books sentences and reciting them to myself like a mantra. For example, when getting pissed at people whom I deemed incompetent, I'd quell my anger by saying silently "PEOPLE ARE DOING THEIR BEST, LET THEM BE". This sentence, as simple as it might sound, would instantly humble me and make me more forgiving, calming a rising storm inside. It just had that click for me.

In the end, the obvious is worth repeating: any self-help book works only if you use it! Deliberately seeking out situations that make you angry - not avoiding them - and acting in a new, non-aggressive fashion, is key. Good luck!

80 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Anger Management Help, May 22, 2001

By 

Patricia M Coman (Starksboro, VT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Anger Control Workbook (Paperback)

This workbook teaches everyday skills and techniques on how to manage anger build-up, reactions toward anger (positive reactions versus negative reactions), how not to turn anger inward ("stuffing it"), etc.I found that this book, in conjunction with cognitive techniques for thinking really dissipated my anger level to one of tolerance instead of blowing up over almost everything that goes wrong.I would suggest this book to anyone who feels that anger gets in the way of living a happy, rewarding life. Especially for folks that normally react with anger to either avoid other feelings or get angry over things that are not in their control.

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have!, November 10, 2006

By 

James Dickson "a1Life4u www.bodytouchtherapy.com" (Santa Rosa, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Anger Control Workbook (Paperback)

I've enjoyed Matthew McKay's other anger management books "When Anger Hurts" and especially "Being a Man: A Guide to the New Maculinity." -- the latter book changed the tenor of my life for which I am truly grateful.

"Being a Man" was an excellent book, and a precursor to this book "The Anger Control Workbook." And as the title says, it is a WORKBOOK. It incorporates ALL the suggestions made in the earlier books, provides an immediate set of exercises to use, and simplifies the process without having to "read" a lot of background material as you had to do with the earlier books.

I suggest this book to individuals needing IMMEDIATE relief from anger arousal. I keep many copies on hand and give to friends seeking help. I think it works only for people seeking help and wanting change; and wouldn't apply to those in trouble and not willing to make personal changes.

The book comes with many photocopy-ready pages, with easy methods to handle the next 24-hours, and then a few days, and then a week, progressing up to a month and more. The work is structured in such a way that real change happens.

If you want a change in yourself, or in someone close to you (e.g., a partner, a therapy client, a coaching client, etc.) this book is an a must read and own!

I consider Matthew McKay PhD as one of the few gifted experts in this field. He is able to write in a way that is easy to understand and easy to incorporate.