Since Anger Is Not An Illness, What Do Counselors Treat?

Coach Mike Rice’s firing from Rutgers University has put “anger management counseling” in the news on a daily basis for over a week.

 

A lot has been made of his being mandated to take “anger management counseling”, little on no mention has been made of what this counseling consisted of. Nor is the obvious failure of his counseling a source of concern to the media.

 

The American Psychiatric Association does not list anger as an illness and anger is not listed in the Diagnostic And Statistical Manual of Nervous And Mental Disorders (DSM 5).

 

A review of the training received by Psychologists and other mental health professionals, clearly demonstrate that since anger in not a illness, training in anger management is not offered in any masters or doctoral programs in counseling or psychotherapy.

 

Therefore, the most appropriate intervention for assessment and coaching for persons experiencing problems with impulse control is Emotional Intelligence Skill Enhancement Coaching for “impulse control”. A national list of Certified Emotional Intelligence/Anger Management Facilitators can be found by assessing the provider list of the American Association of Anger Management Providers: ww

AS Coach Rice of Rutgers demonstrated, counseliing for anger management is useless.

Anger is not an illness and therefore not amenable to counseling or psychotherapy. According to the American Psychiatric Association, anger is a normal humnan emotion which is a problem when it is too intense, occurs too frequently, last too long, lead to health issues, causes problems at work or school or destroys interpersonal relationships.

Emotional Intelligence Coaching is the intervention of choice for teaching skill enhancement in self-awareness, self-control, social awareness and relationship management.

George Anderson