There is a global confusion throughout the world among
professionals, the Judicial System and the general public regarding the
difference between anger management and domestic violence. In California, Penal
Code
1203.097 defines domestic violence as “violence that occurs in an intimate
relationship”. The relationship can be gay, lesbian or heterosexual. However,
it relates to violence in an intimate relationship. This law further determines
that acceptable intervention is not anger management but rather batterer’s
intervention. The primary goal of batterers’ intervention is teaching equality
in male-female relationships this represents 98% of all cases.
The key issue in domestic violence is believed to be “power and
control” on the part of the perpetrator”. Anger is not a prerequisite for
abuse. The perpetrator may abuse whenever his or her control is threatened.
Rarely is the perpetrator out of control.
“To date, there is no literature specifically addressing the
relationship between spousal battering and emotional intelligence, a concept
that captures the success, or lack thereof, of a person's functioning in their
immediate environment. Forty-four men convicted of spousal assault and 76
undergraduate students completed the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i; R.
Bar-On, BarOn Emotional Quotient Inventory: User's Manual, Multi-Health
Systems, Inc., Toronto, 1997), the Propensity for Abusiveness Scale (PAS; D. G.
Dutton, J. Fam. Violence 10(2): 203–221, 1995), and the Balanced
Inventory of Desirable Responding (D. Paulhus, J. Pers. Soc. Psychol.
46: 598–609, 1984; Assessing Self-Deception and Impression Management in
Self-Reports: The Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding, Unpublished
manual, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, 1988; In Measures
of Personality and Social Psychological Attitudes, Academic Press, San
Diego, CA, pp. 17–59, 1991). Results of this exploratory study indicate that
batterers’ score significantly lower than the general population on all
components of EQ-i. Additionally EQ-i total and subscale scores for both samples
correlate negatively and significantly with scores on PAS, suggesting that
deficits in various components of emotional intelligence are related to an
increase in the propensity to be abusive. Implications for batterer treatment
are discussed.” http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/B:JOFV.0000042076.21723.f3
“Physical aggression against a partner is a crime and should be
treated as such. But even so, we need to recognize that many if not most
perpetrators will not be going to jail, and virtually all who do will be
released soon enough. We need to look more deeply into the human problem
domestic violence represents. Criminalizing domestic violence and consciousness
raising are just reasonable first steps on a much longer journey. Shaming
perpetrators is not helpful. In addition to legal and social action, we need to
help people who commit violence to mindfully come into contact with their
thoughts and feelings, learn the agility they need to choose behaviors that
correlate with their true values instead of acting out as a mechanism of
escape.” http://www.stevenchayes.com/perpetrators-are-people-too/
There are no legal definitions of
anger or anger management anywhere in the United States. In fact, anger is not
considered an abnormal or pathological condition. Anger is considered a normal
human emotion. It is therefore not listed in the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental & Nervous Disorders. Nor is
the treatment or
intervention for anger management covered or reimbursed by insurance companies.
Counseling, psychotherapy or psychotropic medication is not considered useful
for anger management.
According to The Group For The Advancement Of Psychiatry, “anger
is considered a problem when it is hurtful to you or someone else, when it
lasts too long, occurs too frequently, is too intense or leads to person or
property-directed violence. Trumpism has dramatically increased the
inappropriate public display of anger nationwide. The Criminal Justice system
is overwhelmed with cases related to simple battery, threats, workplace
violence, road rage, computer rage and implied or actual threats.
Anger is a secondary emotion, which often follows fear,
depression, stress, fatigue or a perceived threat or personal, attack on one’s
personhood. The situation that causes the anger is not the problem; the
unhealthy response or violence that may follow is the problem.
Successful anger management programs assess at intake the client’s
competence in four areas: emotional intelligence, stress management,
anger management and communication. The coaching or classes are
designed to teach emotional intelligence skills in self-awareness, empathy,
self-control, social awareness and relationship management by using a number of
approaches including client workbooks, role -play, videos, lectures, experiential exercises and real life practices.
All anger management clients should be required to complete a
Pre Emotional Intelligence Assessment (EQ-I-2.0) that is designed to provide a
baseline of the clients’ interpersonal skills prior to enrollment in an
intervention program. After the completion of coaching or classes, the same
assessment should be completed as a Post Assessment.
This makes the intervention “evidenced based” for each client.
In contrast, domestic violence batterer’s programs focus on male
socialization, female socialization, and substance abuse, child abuse, and
sexual abuse, male dominance and the impact of family violence on children.
Unfortunately, most batterer’s programs in the U.S. use the
outdated Duluth Domestic Violence Intervention Curriculum. This curriculum is published
in English only and is based on consistent, direct, frequent, intense
confrontation of the perpetrators defenses. These interventions may unwittingly increase rather
than decrease resistance and defensiveness and may reinforce the belief that
relationships are based on coercive influence. Therefore, such programs have no
demonstrated value for any population. Rather, they are an insult to people of
color or persons whose primary language is not English. Confrontation or shame
is culturally inappropriate for persons of Asian descent.
The NFL has an opportunity
to serve as a powerful advocate for appropriate intervention for both
batterers’ intervention as well as anger management/emotional intelligence. Not
only will organized sports benefit from appropriate interventions, the entire
world will be positively impacted by improved interventions for these two
epidemics.
George Anderson, MSW, LCSW,
BCD, CAMF
Certified EQ-I-Coach
Bryan Anderson, MSW, CAMF
Certified EQ-I-Coach
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