Synopses & Reviews
Do you often find yourself in trouble because of anger? Do you react to situations and later regret how you behaved? Does your anger cause problems with other people? Are you tired of letting anger control you?
Between family life, friends, and the pressures of school, there's no doubt that it's stressful being a teenager. And while anger is a natural human emotion, different people handle it differently. Some hold in their anger and let it build, some lash out with hurtful words, some resort to fighting, and some just explode. If you've noticed yourself beginning to take out your frustrations on the people you love mostyour parents, brothers or sisters, and friendsit may be time to make a change.
The Anger Workbook for Teens includes thirty-seven exercises designed to show you effective skills to help you deal with feelings of rage without losing it. By completing just one ten-minute worksheet a day, you'll find out what's triggering your anger, look at the ways you react, and learn skills and techniques for getting your anger under control. You'll develop a personal anger profile and learn to notice the physical symptoms you feel when you become enraged, then find out how to calm those feelings and respond more sensitively to others. Once you fully understand your anger, you'll be better prepared to deal with your feelings in the moment and never lose your cool.
The activities in this workbook will help you notice things that make you angry, handle frustrating situations without getting angry, and effectively communicate your feelings. Most of all, these activities can help you learn to change how you respond to anger. Change is not easy, but with the right frame of mind and set of skills, you can do it. This book is designed to help you understand how both your mind and body respond to anger, how you can handle this anger constructively, and relaxation techniques for dealing with anger in a healthy way, so that you can not only control your anger, but your life as a whole.
Review
This is not a bookit is a life raft, a survival kit, and a refuge. Mark C. Purcell and Jason R. Murphy have offered us the most precious gifts possible: tools for finding inner freedom and meditation techniques that will surely lead to a greater sense of happiness and well-being.
Mindfulness for Teen Anger is the book I needed as a confused youth sitting in juvenile hall trying to figure out how to save my own life with meditation.”
Noah Levine, author of Dharma Punx, Against the Stream, Heart of the Revolution, and Refuge Recovery
Review
At last, a nonjudgmental and systematic approach for dealing with anger! This comprehensive and wise workbook offers an array of practical tools and meditations to help understand, work with, and transform our anger. Its geared to teens but truly useful for any age.”
Diana Winston, director of mindfulness education, UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center, and author of Fully Present: The Science, Art, and Practice of Mindfulness
Review
This book fills an important gap in the treatment landscape for teens. Many teens have difficulties managing anger and its attendant urges and behaviors, but not everyone has access to the relief that mindfulness and other DBT skills can bring. The idea of an instant help book for teens is a perfect format for todays fast-paced world, and Murphy and Purcell have helpfully broken up complex concepts into easily digestible chunks for any teenager who is even slightly open to decreasing their anger and aggression. Highly recommended.”
Esme A.L. Shaller, PhD, director of the dialectical behavior therapy program at University of California, San Francisco, and assistant clinical professor at University of California, San Francisco and Berkeley
Review
Mindfulness for Teen Anger is an important book to help one live better with anger. Through down-to-earth stories and practical exercises and skills, one can learn to transform anger into deeper understanding and peace. This book will be highly recommended to any teen living with anger and hostility who wants to get at its root cause to live a freer and happier life.”
Bob Stahl, PhD, coauthor of A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook, Living with Your Heart Wide Open, Calming the Rush of Panic, and A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook for Anxiety
Review
This is a great book. Anger is a normal part of growing up, but everyone can master skills to cope with such a stressful emotion. This book helps readers understand anger and how to master it. The simple exercises coach teens to develop healthy emotional coping skills. This book is a fabulous resource.”
Kellen Glinder, MD, pediatrician and department chair at the Palo Alto office of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation
Review
Mindfulness for Teen Anger is one of the most comprehensive approaches to adolescent anger I have found. It not only provides practical tools to help teens understand and manage their anger, but goes deeper to help them develop emotional resilience. Using real-life examples and an engaging style, this book teaches teens how to improve their emotional control with strategies ranging from trusting your wise mind and thinking cool thoughts, to practicing guided meditations and assertive communication. This book is so much more than just an anger management workbook; it is an instruction manual for social and emotional health.”
Holly Pedersen, PhD, MFT, director of community education and the bullying prevention program at Jewish Children and Family Services in Palo Alto, CA
Review
Mindfulness for Teen Anger is the kind of book I would recommend because it is truly directed at a teen. It talks
to you, not at you like so many other teen workbooks. In addition, it gives information and ideas, allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions about their actions, reactions, thoughts, and feelings. It is a versatile bookone that could be read and used by teens alone, one that could help parents, one a therapist could use with a teen, one a teacher could use with a class, and the list goes on.”
Susan M. Howe, LMFT, licensed marriage and family therapist and director of transitional age youth services at Edgewood Center for Children and Families
Review
After reviewing this book I was very excited about the potential it has to help children cope with and regulate their emotions. It provides a very good source workbook for any teen trying to understand and work through anger issues. The key to controlling anger is in our thinking. The approach in this book helps teens [cultivate] mindfulness, which allows them to pay attention to the present and observe and understand their thoughts and feelings. This awakens them to their experiences in a very pragmatic way. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in helping a teenager cope with anger and aggression. It is practical and understandable, and will provide direct assistance to teens in establishing the thought control necessary to change their behavior."
Joseph J. Cozzo MA, MS, LMHC, president and CEO at Buffalo Hearing and Speech Center
Review
“Don’t Let Your Emotions Run Your Life for Teens examines many areas that teenagers (and subsequently parents) struggle with. Sheri Van Dijk offers tangible tools to deal with emotional upheaval, volatile emotions and difficult relationships. The exercises that Van Dijk includes in each chapter will assist teens by offering them options for coping with their emotions. Having raised three teenagers, I strongly believe these skills should be taught in schools as part of the curriculum!”
—Kathy Christie, ADR, mental health case manager at York Support Services Network in Newmarket, ON, Canada
Review
“Van Dijk has written a workbook that any teen struggling with emotions will find very helpful. Using clear and concise language, this workbook offers awareness-enhancing exercises and practical help for recognizing, sorting out, and changing the way painful emotions can be handled. I found this book useful and easy to read, and I will recommend it to my teenage patients.”
—Mark R. Katz, MD, FRCOP(C), staff psychiatrist at the Southlake Regional Health Centre and assistant professor at the University of Toronto in Canada
Review
“I highly recommend this well-written, user-friendly workbook written especially for teens. It provides easy to use tools for harnessing unruly emotions and calming uncontrolled thinking. By following the suggestions in this workbook, teens will feel more capable of controlling their mood, have more harmonious relationships, gain confidence, and live happier lives.”
—Linda Jeffery, RN, cognitive behavior therapist in private practice in Newmarket, Ontario
Review
An easy-to-read manual for adolescents dealing with anger problems. There is a great need for a self-help book like this for dealing with anger. A practical and accessible guide.”
Omid J. Naim, MD, adult, child, and adolescent psychiatrist at Hope Integrative Psychiatry
Review
This is an immensely useful resource for both psychotherapists and clients. [Purcell and Murphy's] book provides an excellent explication of cutting-edge knowledge of the mindfulness approach and its value for effective treatment of adolescent issues. We in the mental health profession will be grateful beneficiaries in years to come.”
Benjamin R. Tong, PhD, professor of clinical psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies
Synopsis
Being a teen in todays world is hard, and often teens struggle with feelings of anger toward themselves, their parents, and their friends. Using proven effective mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT),
Mindfulness for Teen Anger teaches teens the difference between healthy and unhealthy forms of anger. Inside, teens will learn to make better choices, stop overreacting, find emotional balance, and be more aware of their thoughts and feelings in the moment. By cultivating compassion and understanding for themselves and others, teens will be able to transform fear and anger into confidence and
kindness.
Synopsis
Do you ever feel so frustrated with school, friends, parents, and life in general that you lose control of your emotions and lash out? You shouldnt feel ashamed. Being a teen in todays world is hard, but its even harder when youre unable to keep your cool in stressful situations. Fortunately, there are things you can do to make positive changes in your life. Using proven effective mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), Mindfulness for Teen Anger will teach you the difference between healthy and unhealthy forms of anger. Inside, youll learn how to make better choices, how to stop overreacting, find emotional balance, and be more aware of your thoughts and feelings in the moment. Youll also learn skills for building positive relationships with peers, friends, and family.
As a teen, the relationship skills you learn now can help you thrive in the future. With a little help, and by cultivating compassion and understanding for yourself and others, you will be able to transform your fear and anger into confidence and kindness.
Synopsis
Dont Let Your Emotions Run Your Life for Teens presents a dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) workbook to help teens manage difficult emotions and unhealthy coping mechanisms. Teens with depression, anxiety, anger, bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder will learn to take charge of their own feelings and start feeling calmer and more stable. Skills learned include mindfulness, emotion regulation, crisis management, and interpersonal relationship techniques. Based on the bestselling workbook Dont Let Your Emotions Run Your Life, this guide will help teen readers get along with family and friends, and cope with the highs and lows of adolescence in healthy and productive ways.
Synopsis
Let's face it: life gives you plenty of reasons to get angry, sad, scared, and frustrated-and those feelings are okay. But sometimes it can feel like your emotions are taking over, spinning out of control with a mind of their own. To make matters worse, these overwhelming emotions might be interfering with school, causing trouble in your relationships, and preventing you from living a happier life.
Don't Let Your Emotions Run Your Life for Teens is a workbook that can help. In this book, you'll find new ways of managing your feelings so that you'll be ready to handle anything life sends your way. Based in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), a type of therapy designed to help people who have a hard time handling their intense emotions, this workbook helps you learn the skills you need to ride the ups and downs of life with grace and confidence.
This book offers easy techniques to help you:
- Stay calm and mindful in difficult situations
- Effectively manage out-of-control emotions
- Reduce the pain of intense emotions
- Get along with family and friends
Synopsis
In The Anger Workbook for Teens, an anger management counselor offers forty-two activities and exercises adolescents can do to examine what makes them angry and learn to communicate their feelings more effectively. The activities also teach coping skills that help young readers handle anger-provoking situations in healthy ways.
About the Author
Mark C. Purcell, MEd, PsyD, is a licensed clinical psychologist who has worked with youth and families for the past twenty years. Purcell has developed DBT programs for youth agencies and trains mental health professionals in a variety of settings. He is a professor in the department of psychology at John F. Kennedy University and has a private practice in the San Francisco Peninsula.Jason R. Murphy, MA, is a mindfulness based psychotherapist and meditation teacher who has worked with youth and families for the past twenty years. Murphy has been practicing Vipassana (Insight) meditation since 1994 and is a teacher in that tradition. He is a certified addictions counselor and founder of Mindfulness Recovery Counseling. Murphy has taught mindful awareness in a variety of settings around the United States. Murphy's particular focus has been working with youth and incarcerated men and women addressing issues of stress, anger, and addiction. He is in private practice and leads groups and workshops in Santa Cruz, CA.