From the Back Cover
Break the hold anger has on your life
Anger, like fear, is a powerful survival tool that has evolved over countless millennia. But when we allow anger to rule our day-to-day lives, it undermines our health, alienates loved ones, and ruins our chances for a happy, healthy life.
Now, Getting Control of Your Anger helps adults who have "inherited" destructive anger patterns learn constructive ways to express themselves and get their needs met. Focusing on breaking the cycle of anger in yourself and your family, Dr. Robert Allan helps you discover the reasons for your anger and find more effective ways to get your core needs met.
With Getting Control of Your Anger you'll learn to:
- Get at the root of your anger and take control of it without gimmicks, drugs, or psychoanalysis
- Improve your relationships with your loved ones, friends, and coworkers
- Break the intergenerational cycle of anger in your family and avoid passing destructive behavior patterns down to your children
- Safeguard your health and reduce your risk for cardiovascular disease and a host of anger-related illnesses
No matter what your anger issues, psychologist Dr. Robert Allan can help. Dr. Allan has spent nearly three decades studying anger. In his practice he has observed anger in all its forms, and he has witnessed how a devastating legacy of anger can run through families, getting passed down from father to son, mother to daughter. He has developed a set of anger-busting strategies and tools that have helped thousands of people master their anger--without gimmicks, drugs, or lengthy psychoanalysis.
In Getting Control of Your Anger, Dr. Allan shares what he knows about anger. He identifies its roots and describes the harmful effects too much anger can have on our bodies and minds. He dispels common myths about anger, including the belief that it's unhealthy not to "vent" anger. And he explains that while anger is a part of human nature, inappropriate and destructive anger is a learned response.
Most important, Dr. Allan arms you with a proven three-step program for conquering your anger and breaking the cycle of anger in your family. With the help of self-assessments, inventories, activities, and other powerful tools, you'll discover these three important steps:
- Step 1: Identify your "hooks"--situations that lead to explosions of anger--and learn to avoid them.
- Step 2: Zero in on which of your basic needs are not being met, such as respect or consideration for your boundaries.
- Step 3: Find constructive ways to fulfill those needs and learn how to replace an angry response with a "need-fulfillment response."
You owe it to yourself and your loved ones to conquer your anger and end the destructive legacy of anger in your family. Let Getting Control of Your Anger show you how.
About the Author
Robert Allan, Ph.D., is a leading expert in the field of anger management with a specialty in coronary risk reduction. He is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where he has been an anger and stress spokesperson for the media for the last fifteen years. Dr. Allan is the recipient of the prestigious 2002 Timothy A. Jeffrey Award for outstanding contributions to clinical health pyschology from the American Pyschological Association.
Donna Blass is a freelance writer specializing in relationships. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, More, Family Circle, Glamour, Brides magazine, and American Baby, among other publications.
