An Evidenced-Based Review of Psychological Treatments of Anger and Aggression

Therapists are increasingly treating clients with anger and aggression problems. Issues of anger control are now being addressed across various mental health settings. A wide choice of interventions, providing a range of psychoeducational treatments, is available for mental health therapists to help clients with anger and aggressive behaviors and emotions. In light of this increase in treatment, evidence-based practice to guide therapists is currently limited and poorly developed. Most past studies on anger and aggression have focused on treatments containing components of cognitive and behavioral aspects or a combination of the two. Adherents of other theoretical orientations--such as psychodynamic, psychoeducational, substance abuse counseling, and relaxation therapy--as possible effective interventions have empirically not examined their efficacies, and hence little information is known about the overall contribution of these approaches to the reduction of anger. This lack of research should not be taken to mean that they are not efficacious, but only that they have not been adequately tested. There remains no clear consensus among therapists and researchers on the best way to treat angry clients, and little information exists to guide therapists in their work with specific angry populations. This paper introduces various treatment approaches for working with clients exhibiting angry and aggressive behaviors and provides a summary of current research findings in relation to the different psychological approaches to anger and aggression.