Healthy Anger: How to Help Children and Teens Manage Their Anger [Hardcover]

Bernard Golden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2002

How should we respond to a child's temper tantrum? To a teenager's sullen resentment? How can we help children and teens experience their anger without being overwhelmed by it? How can we deal with their anger before it leads to depression, isolation, or even violence?

In Healthy Anger, Bernard Golden draws upon more than twenty years of experience as a psychologist and teacher to offer specific, practical strategies for helping children and teens manage their anger constructively. Golden has developed a set of skills that parents, teachers, and counselors can use to show children how to identify the causes of anger; how to respond to it in ways that lead to an internal sense of competence and self-control; how to use anger to understand their own emotional situation; and how to develop a greater capacity for empathy towards themselves and others. And he shows parents how to cope with outbursts--including clear, step-by-step instructions and problem-solving skills--how to derail escalating anger, reward good behaviors, and recognize when professional help is needed. For anyone who has ever helplessly confronted a child's rage or a teenager's defiant fury, Healthy Anger offers a wealth of wise insight, clear advice, and eminently practical strategies for turning anger into understanding.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Golden, a teacher at Chicago's Illinois School of Professional Psychology, assures parents it's okay if their kids get mad, agreeing with the common view that "anger is not a sign of emotional instability. It is a perfectly natural emotion." As any parent of a teed off toddler or antagonistic adolescent knows, if the tempest isn't to be tamed, it needs to be redirected. Parents will find advice on how to do just that, but they must be willing to slog through some lengthy and fairly scholarly passages on identifying the emotions associated with anger and recognizing the motivations behind it. Although the table on assessing the frequency of a child's anger expressions (which includes on its list neediness, vandalism, anxiety, scapegoating, lateness, substance abuse and sexual promiscuity) may be ill-suited for younger children, it should help parents of angry teens. For parents seeking a quick fix, Golden's geometric diagrams and guidelines based on psychological theory (e.g., "The notion of suppressed, repressed, or hidden emotions is especially important in regard to anger") might perplex. But those interested in learning about the deep reasons behind their children's anger should find enlightening data here.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Golden presents a useful model to help parents manage their children's and teenagers' ire. Through its different components, the author explains how children and teens, by way of self-reflection and communication, can gain a better understanding of their needs, wants, expectations, and emotions Exercises are offered to help one get in touch with emotions, to relax, and to listen to self-talk."--Library Journal

"At first, Healthy Anger seems like an oxymoron. But Bernard Golden helps us understand how anger can be not only normal, but essential to healthy growth--if we know how to guide and control it. And Golden shows us in plain, easy steps how to help our children do just that."--Myrna B. Shure, Ph.D., author of Raising a Thinking Child

"Healthy Anger is a comprehensive sourcebook of practical information for parents. A vital message in this book is that anger does not need to lead to violence. Highly recommended."--Charles E. Schaefer, Ph.D., Professor, Psychology Department, Fairleigh Dickinson University

"Golden confirms what I have long suspected--the origins of adult 'toxic' anger reside in childhood. I found the discussion of 'child logic' and shame especially helpful. I will be a better anger therapist for having read this book!" --W. Doyle Gentry, Ph.D., author of Anger-Free: Ten Basic Steps to Managing Your Anger

"Most approaches to anger management and treatment attempt to teach people to eliminate anger or express it differently. This usually results in people bottling up their anger and holding it in. This eventually fails and the person explodes. Healthy Anger stresses the ubiquitous nature of anger and the adaptive functions it serves. The experience of anger can help people identify a problem in their environment that they need to address. This book teaches parents to help their children evaluate their environment and their emotional reaction to it. Golden's writing style is clear and crisp, and the book's inclusive nature will help parents to help their children."--Raymond A. DiGiuseppe, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, St. Johns University

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (November 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195156579
• ISBN-13: 978-0195156577
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,297,531 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Perfect Book For Anger, February 2, 2003

By 

matthew williams (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Healthy Anger: How to Help Children and Teens Manage Their Anger (Hardcover)

Reading this book was very stimulating but yet very refreshing and informative. The book provided significant theoretical information, but more so presented it in a manner in which the parent sas well as the practioner could easily understand and apply it in working with children with anger.
In addition, many of the concepts and techniques about handling anger can be applied, to a degree, both to children and adults across the board. Thus as a teacher and psychotherapist, I highly recommend this book be used as a guide and resource reference for parents, teachers and other mental health professionals.
Respectfully,
Matthew Williams, MSW, ACSW
Chicago, Illinois

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Parents, this is the book to read!, January 19, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Healthy Anger: How to Help Children and Teens Manage Their Anger (Hardcover)

I highly recommend this book for parents. Golden has a way of explaning without directing blame but solutions! Check it out and I am sure you will be as pleased as I am! Many thanks for this wonderful first book for parents

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars tough read., July 8, 2009

By 

maryfromeurope - See all my reviews

This review is from: Healthy Anger: How to Help Children and Teens Manage Their Anger (Paperback)

I bought three books dealing with teenagers. Two were easy to read and enlightening on the subject of dealing with teeners. But in this book the material may be in there but it is difficult to plow through and there is no simplified way to extricate and use the info.