Customer Reviews

Anger Management: The Complete Treatment Guidebook for Practitioners (The Practical Therapist Series)

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Anger Management by Howard Kassinove and Raymond Tafrate is by far the most complete and up to date text for therapists. It is a must read resource for all environments, children, adults and families, as well as the workplace. The authors break down anger episodes into understandable segments in order to assess the client's anger intensity and frequency.

Then they rebuild with techniques that include life skills, problem solving snd step by step ways to change thinking. Among the communication skills the motivated client will learn is how to give and receive criticism without becoming defensive. There is also emphasis on non-verbal communication, including body language and direct eye contact.

The model presented for problem solving skills is very important, because it encourages the client to seek alternative solutions, thus reducing anger and frustration.

Ultimately, Kassinove and Tafrate examine forgiveness as part of anger management. By forgiving, eith within or outside of a religious conviction, a person gains the ability to move on. Anger Management is a MUST have for every practitioner's bookshelf--only after a thorough reading!

Is it possible for academically based clinical psychologists to produce a clinical treatise suitable for the trraining of clinical graduate students yet have equal value and meaning to experienced working clinicians? The answer is a strong yes! This has been achieved by our authors Howard Kassinove and Raymond Chip Tafrate in their excellent new work on anger management.

The work consists of six clearly written, practical guides to the understanding, treatment and management of clients' anger. They have even devoted a chapter to aid the therapist in dealing with his/her anger, a frequent occurrence when working in this difficult area.
The first section consists of four chapters dealing with basics: Anger, The Anger Episode Model, Assessment and Diagnosis, and an overview of the Anger Management Program. These chapters, unlike some practical presentations, presents issues with both experiential and research support with a strong sense of history as well.

In section two, three chapters deal with preparing the client for change. This is followed in section three with five chapters dealing with the process of change, including physical arousal, skills building, and new ways of problem solving. This is really the heart of the work and is presented with excellent examples and concrete steps for the therapist.

Chapters 13-15 work with the necessary cognitive component for anger management without which treatment may never reach completion. The final three chapters address relapse prevention, the therapist's anger, and finally, a sample treatment program.

All this is available at a very reasonable price in todays overpriced book market. The cost of 27.95(less through Amazon) is affordable for students and a valuable addition to the practitioner's library. I recommend it as a valuable guide to one of todays most vexing problems, the reduction and management of anger.

Collaboratively written by Howard Kassinove (Chairperson of the Psychology Department at Hofstra University) and Raymond Chip Tafrate (Associate Professor in the Criminology and Criminal Justice Department at Central Connecticut State University), Anger Management: The Complete Treatment Guidebook For Practitioners is a straightforward and thoroughly practical guide designed to substantially assist professional psychologists and caseworkers of all fields to help their patients and clients deal with a condition of unhealthy, counter-productive anger. Individual chapters address a model and plan to help people increase their awareness of anger and change their responses, and to police themselves to in order to maintain an emotionally healthier way of life. Anger Management is highly recommended reading for anyone charged with a professional responsibility to deal with and assist angry clients whether the setting is in private practice, an outpatient clinic, a hospital setting, or within the criminal justice system.

Even though I have been working with various clients in my practice and have good clinical training, I felt that I was not effectively treating the many who are angry. This book was incredibly helpful. It is a fantastic book, which clearly explains the "how to's" of anger management. I have others books on treating anger but when this one came out I snatched it up. I use many of the handouts in my practice and I have seen significant improvements with my angry clients. If there is any book to buy on anger it is this one! FYI- I also bought the other book by Dr. Kassinove--it gave me excellent insight into the research on anger and the anger episode.

Anger Management: The Complete Treatment Guidebook for Practitioners proved to be an excellent resource for teaching veterans anger management skills. The authors'Anger Episode Model clearly explains that anger does not "come out of the blue" but follows a clear sequence of cognitive appraisal, experience, and emotional expression. The inclusion of both short-term and long-term outcomes of anger expression highlight the notion that anger has long-term consequences on physical and emotional health as well as obvious short-term consequences. The sections on Fostering Cognitive Change and Forgiveness make this book unique and particularly helpful with this population. The inability to forgive self or others and an inflexible view of the world, if not addressed as part of an anger management model, can be a major obstacle in learning and applying anger management skills.

This great book covers a topic central to my practice and my own life - anger. It's about time that we had a good book on anger.

It begins with a case example, presents anger "basics" such the difference among anger-aggression-hostility, and presents a clear ANGER EPISODE MODEL of what happens when you get angry.
The chapters on treatment are very helpful and the book is easy to read. I found the forms, handouts, and cases examples to be very useful.

Although it is meant for practitioners, my clients will certainly learn from it. I plan to ask THEM to read it.

I had the great pleasure and experience of having Dr. Raymond Chip Tafrate as my professor at CCSU for the course 'Controlling Anger and Aggression.' This dynamic course was complemented perfectly by this book. Whether you are a student, therapist, or individual who is interested in controlling anger, this book is for you. There are worksheets, handouts, and personal logs to track and control anger and aggression.

To sum up, this is THE book on anger and aggression, unparalleled by any others.

This book was very informative, but you will have to actively translate most of the material into less psychobabble, more realistic (or practical) terms. I am happy I got this book, but many of the handouts are too complex for clients that do not have a high school or above reading level. Being a therapist in a community mental health setting, I found it much more educational than practical. As an educational book, 5 stars. As a practical guide, 3 stars.

As a Practitioner I have been looking for a new perspective in Anger management and I have found it in this book. The book was delivered when promised. I am very pleased with my choice and have been using it in my Anger Management groups for the last 3 weeks, with good results. Thank You, Amazon for the wonderful service you provide. Diane McKinley

I work for a non-profit behavioral healthcare agency in rural Arizona. The town in which I work is a 90-mile drive from Tucson, but I love my job and the company provides a vehicle and gas (it's hard to get anyone with certain skills in desolate small, rural towns), so I make do. Most of my work is spent as a psychiatric social worker/case manager/crisis interventionist. We have a small office in a town with high unemployment and few opportunities, unless making meth in a trailer in the middle of nowhere appeals to you. Most of my clients are current or former drug abusers, mostly male but a few females, who really have deep-seated anger issues that are tough to overcome because of their poverty.

The local courts have mandated individuals to get anger management, so my clients typically are there because they have to be, not because they want to be. I've used other "well-developed curriculum" anger management programs, and the structure bored me and the clients. I bought this book from an amazon vendor for less than I paid for the shipping -- and wow, am I impressed.

Instead of so many of the 11x8 format books (you know, so you can copy and distribute worksheets, this book provides some dynamic activities that really help me cut to the heart of how to address the core essence of anger, how it develops, and how to "peel back the layers of the onion" and get to the real issues. No silly handouts. No worksheets. Just a lot of hard, mano a mano group work to dig to people's issues. I was blown away by how much this book's suggestions had such a dramatic impact on my anger management groups.

Yes, there are still people who complete the required 36 hours of anger management group work and have issues, but I'd like to think I've helped give them a "key" to begin opening up and letting sources of anger dissipate. A few clients have continued coming to the group (they have to pay for the first 36 hours, after that, I don't charge because I know that somehow I've helped someone turn a corner and decide to make some changes.)

This little book (size-wise) won't give you nice handouts with which to pass time. But it will give you the tools to change a stagnant, run-of-the-mill group into something that actually achieves some results. Does it "take" with everyone? No. But it clicks with a few, and those few are more than I was ever able to reach with the "pre-designed curriculum" anger management workbooks.

Thank you for this book. Principles in this are now being used in depression and anxiety groups, in 1:1 therapy, and in casual day-to-day contacts with clients. I wish I could give it more than five stars.