Anger Management Is An Intervention Whose Time Has Come

In 1975, Dr. Raymond Novaco coined the term “anger management” and devoted much of his academic work researching strategies for managing the toxic effects of anger. Most of this original research was on the development of testing instruments designed to measure the changes in psychological and physiological changes when a person is experiencing anger.

Since 1975, one of the most momentous developments occurred in 2013 when the Group For The Advancement Of Psychiatry decided not to define anger as a pathological condition. Instead, the American Psychiatric Association considers anger to be a normal human emotion that is a problem when it is too intense, occurs too frequently, lasts too long, leads to aggression or violence, impacts health or destroys work, school or personal relationships. Anger is considered to be a “lifestyle issue”

To the dismay of the American Psychological Association, psychologists were the losers in their unprecedented campaign to have anger listed as an illness. Counseling or psychotherapy is rapidly becoming passé in addressing problems in impulse control.

Skill enhancement in Emotional Intelligence for Impulse Control is now the newest trend in anger management intervention. On August 22, 23, 2014, The American Association of Anger Management is devoting its’ two day annual conference focusing on EI for anger management.

http://aaamp.org/2014-first-annual-conference/