Is Emotional Intelligence Coaching Needed For Anger Management?

The evidence of the need for anger management is convincing and available twenty -four hours a day on local, national and worldwide news. No examples are necessary.

As I am writing this post, I am watching msnbc. Naturally, the discussion is on the violence in Yemen, Belgium, Nigeria along with MLK events in the U.S.

Since anger is a normal human emotional. Anger is not considered an illness and rarely the subject of credible research. The Group For the Advancement of Psychiatry is the organization responsible for determining and cataloging nervous and mental disorders worldwide. In its’ 2014 Diagnostic And Statistical Manual of Mental & Nervous Disorders (DSM-5), anger is not listed as a disorder. The American Psychiatric Association defines anger as a normal human emotion that is a problem when it is too intense, occurs too frequently, lasts too long, impacts health, destroys work, school relationships or intimate relationships or leads to person or property directed aggression or violence.

The most promising intervention for impulse control is Emotional Intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the capacity to understand and manage your own emotions as well as the ability to sense the needs and emotions of others. The most important contribution of emotional intelligence is the fact that EI competencies can be learned and enhanced for persons who are motivated to change.

Lets take a look at the 15 emotional intelligence scales that are a part of the internationally recognized EQ-I-2.0 Assessment:

Self-Regard Composite

Self-Regard                                                                                  

Self-Actualization                                                                        

Emotional Self-Awareness                                                         

Self-Expression Composite                                          

Emotional Expression                                                                

Assertiveness                                                                                    

Independence                                                                   

Interpersonal Composite                                                              

Interpersonal Relationships                                                                 

Empathy                                                                               

Social Responsibility                                                                     

Decision Making Composite                              

Problem Solving                                                                            

Reality Testing                                                                      

Impulse Control                                                                            

Stress Management Composite                                        

Flexibility                                                                               

Stress Tolerance                                                                            

Optimism                  

All of these 15 EI scales are interrelated and changes in any area will impact other areas. In my experience providing Emotional Intelligence Coaching for “disruptive physicians”, here are some of the patterns of EQ-I-assessment results:

·      Physician clients whose scores in emotional self-awareness are in the low range, these physicians also score low in impulse control, emotional self-expression, assertiveness, interpersonal relationships, optimism, empathy, problem solving and flexibility.

·      When these areas are the focus of six-months of individual emotional intelligence skill enhancement coaching, these same scores are more likely to move to the mid or high range of competency.

·       Increases in stress tolerance, reality testing, self-regard and self-actualization are also likely to occur.

Previous interventions for anger management have focused on assessing the physiological and psychological changes that occur when a person is angry and offering relaxation and positive self-talk to reduce or lower the intensity of the anger. These interventions have simply not worked.

George Anderson is considered the anger management guru. www.andersonservices.com