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APA Psychotherapy Training Videos are intended solely for educational purposes for mental health professionals. Viewers are expected to treat confidential material found herein according to strict professional guidelines. Unauthorized viewing is prohibited.
In Working With Anger, Dr. Lorne Korman demonstrates his approach to treating clients who present with problems of anger and aggression. This integrative approach to anger treatment recognizes that the underlying causes of anger and aggression problems vary by individual. An important aspect of treatment involves assessing the underlying emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and motivational processes that may be contributing to a client's anger problems. Therapy often involves teaching clients about anger and personal anger cues, and enhancing the client's motivation to reduce anger. In this session, Dr. Korman works with a man in his 30s with anger and aggression issues surrounding road rage. He first educates the client about anger, then provides strategies for monitoring his feelings and reducing angry behavior.
Dr. Korman's approach to treating anger and aggression problems is integrative. His approach has been influenced by a number of theoretical orientations, including dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), emotion-focused therapy, and cognitive behavior therapy. This integrative approach to anger treatment recognizes that the underlying causes of anger and aggression problems frequently vary by individual. An important aspect of treatment therefore involves assessing the underlying emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and motivational processes that may be contributing to clients' anger problems. That is, rather than viewing anger problems as having a single, consistent cause, the approach emphasizes the importance of assessing for specific and often interdependent processes, learned behaviors, and functional deficits associated with clients' anger problems so that these may be targeted in therapy. After establishing a clear contract to work on reducing anger, maladaptive angry behaviors are typically targeted on an episode-by-episode basis. As in many cognitive–behavioral approaches, clients initially are instructed to complete a daily diary of their angry actions and thoughts, including any emotions they experienced. Considerable emphasis is placed on identifying and educating clients about covert angry behaviors that frequently precipitate overt angry and aggressive behaviors. These covert behaviors include fantasizing about revenge, "injustice collecting," ruminating and obsessing, scanning the environment for violation, hostile attributions, and blaming and judging. In order to assess the maladaptive processes, learned behaviors, and the deficits contributing to clients' anger problems, functional analysis is used to explore specific episodes of clients' problem anger and aggressive behaviors. On occasion, particular processes may also be evident from clients' in-session behaviors, including angry interactions with the therapist. Appropriate interventions are then selected to target the specific emotional, cognitive, or behavioral problems identified by the clinician. These problems, and their appropriate interventions, include:
This approach has been used to treat individuals who have problems with anger and aggression, clients with comorbid anger and addiction (including gambling) problems, and angry individuals who have borderline personality disorder or other personality disorders. This treatment is not intended to treat individuals who score high on indices of psychopathy.
Lorne Korman, PhD, CPsych, is the director of research of the British Columbia Provincial Youth Concurrent Disorders Program and clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Previously he was founder and head of the Anger and Addiction Clinic at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto, Ontario. He is a registered psychologist and received his PhD in clinical psychology from York University in Toronto, Ontario. Dr. Korman has authored publications on the treatment of comorbid anger and addictions, problem gambling, borderline personality disorder, and on emotion and change processes in psychotherapy. His research includes randomized control trials of integrated treatments for comorbid anger and addictions, and studies examining the relationships between anger, problem gambling, and intimate partner violence. Dr. Korman has taught numerous workshops on anger and addictions and on dialectical behavior therapy and borderline personality disorder across Canada and internationally.
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