Synopses & Reviews
Anger is a natural emotionand a part of what makes us human. But when you lose control of your anger, it can get in the way of meaningful relationships, successful careers, and ultimately, feelings of happiness and enjoyment. In this highly anticipated book, renowned mindfulness expert and author of Calming Your Anxious Mind Jeff Brantley offers a breakthrough approach using mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and compassion practices to help you better handle the anger, fear, and hostile emotions that can wreak havoc at home, work, and in relationships. In addition, you will also learn important self-awareness skills to help you stop overreacting and improve communication with others.
While other self-help books focus on traditional anger management, Brantley offers solutions that give you personal control over the experience of anger in your life. Inside, youll discover the three major meditative approaches to soothing anger: stabilizing mind and body through concentrating your attention mindfully; using compassionate attention and reflection to disarm the energy of your anger; and learning to use wise understanding about the impermanent and conditioned” nature of your angry reactions in order to diminish your vulnerability to angers power. If you have difficulty with anger, you may be quick to blame others or act in aggressive ways. Unfortunately, this kind of thinking can often leave you feeling alone, alienated, and unhappy. If you are ready to make real, lasting changes, this book can provide you with the skills needed to manage and and transform your anger so that you can live a happier, healthier life.
Review
The Anger Control Workbook “…carefully and clearly shows how feelings of anger rip up people’s guts, destroy their relationships, and have many other disadvantages…Indicates how readers can constructively work—and keep working—to minimize anger and rage…Includes many exceptionally useful and practical self-help techniques and exercises. A fine workbook!”
—Albert Ellis, Ph.D., President, Albert Ellis Instistute, New York, and author, A Guide to Rational Living
Review
“In The Anger Control Workbook, the reader learns by showing and telling…by rehearsing, trying out, and modifying. Delightfully, it addresses issues sometimes overlooked in self-help material…why anger is hard to give up and reasons why change may be difficult. McKay and Rogers provide a clear, concise, highly readable and user-friendly book on personal anger reduction. A good book to become a scuffed-up friend in the continued efforts at anger reduction.”
—Jerry Deffenbacher, Ph.D., Anger Researcher, professor, Dept. of Psychology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins
Review
“…anyone reading this book and working the exercises will certainly develop the skills with which they can really control their anger and live happier lives. A job well done that helps people cope with the frustrations of day to day life.”
—Dr. Ronald T. Potter-Efron, Ph.D., author, Letting Go of Anger, Angry All the Time, and Working Anger
Review
Calming Your Angry Mind is a wonderful guide to help you transform your anger through mindfulness, understanding, and compassion. It is filled with many practical and hands-on mindfulness practices that you can bring into your everyday life. This book shows you how to live a life with less anger and more peace.”
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
With compassion, clarity, and skill, Dr. Brantley provides a practical guide to dealing with anger productively and, more broadly, an inspirational introduction to the broader practice of mindfulness.”
Richard M. Jaffe, associate professor in the department of religious studies at Duke University
Review
This mind-body workbook for anger sets the standard for the treatment the entire spectrum of anger management issues, including court mandated treatment for domestic violence offenders. Mind-body bridging is a set of powerful techniques that will help one to rest the system in ones brain (the I-System) that is responsible for unmanaged anger. I have been in practice twenty years and have found that the tools in this workbook are far superior, better accepted, and more quickly effective than any that I have used with court-ordered domestic violence offenders. Long-term follow-up of recidivism showed rates of only eight percent. Further, I have used and continue to use mind-body bridging in my own life with transformational results.”
Kevin Webb, MSW, LCSW, clinical consultant and therapist, Utah Division of Child and Family Services
Review
Stan and Carolyn have done it again.
Mind-Body Workbook for Anger is a user-friendly, easy-to-apply solution to the problem of anger management. In my long career in treating domestic violence offenders, no other method or technique can compare with it. This book should be on top of the list for both therapists and clients.”
Jules Shuzen Harris, EdD, author of Anger: It Has Something to Teach Us: Can We Listen
Review
As a psychotherapist, I have been actively involved with domestic violence coalitions and treatment agencies. Anger-management treatment programs based on this
Mind-Body Workbook for Anger dramatically reduce dropout rates and recidivism in comparison with conventional treatment methods. In fact, with the favorable results of a large randomized control trial awaiting publication, mind-body bridging is en route to becoming the first evidenced-based treatment and best practice for domestic violence offenders.”
Isaac Phillips, MSW, LCSW, executive director of Equinox Counseling Services; co-chair of the Salt Lake Area Domestic Violence Coalition; and member of the Utah Council for Domestic Violence Perpetrator Treatment
Review
Research I conducted with domestic violence offenders using mind-body bridging as an intervention found the offenders experienced less stress; gained greater access to problem-solving abilities; and improved their relationships with partners, children, and co-workers. The mind-body bridging approach helped these at-risk individuals avoid reoffending largely by sharpening ability to recognize internal triggers. In my experience, the mind-body bridging techniques used in the
Mind-Body Workbook for Anger are successful because they are practical, straightforward, and allow individuals to see results immediately.”
Elisa Audo, PhD, author The Experience of Mind-Body Bridging as a Treatment for Offenders of Domestic Violence, doctoral dissertation, California Institute of Integral Studies, 2012, San Francisco, CA
Review
“In this book, [the authors] go beyond the usual ways we think about anger, and bring new depth to the subject. [They are] masters at providing astute and warmhearted guidance for working with this difficult emotion.”
—Sasha Loring, MEd, LCSW, author of RELIEF: Release Stress and Harmful Habits and Awaken Your Best Self and Eating with Fierce Kindness
Review
“Using personal portrayals and easy, practical exercises anyone can do anytime, this encouraging handbook teaches us how we can mindfully transform the destructive flames of anger into the alchemical fires of profound healing and liberating joy! A true gem and ‘must-read’ for those who wrestle with anger, for the professionals who offer support, and for all of us as we experience the very real and profoundly human emotion of anger.”
—Maya McNeilly, PhD, licensed clinical and health psychologist, and MBSR instructor at Duke Integrative Medicine
Review
“Jeffrey Brantley and Wendy Millstine offer their readers a treasure trove of resources for understanding and befriending the difficult emotion of anger. Infused with the wisdom of their own life practice, the book is filled with meditations that help cultivate mindfulness, cool the fires of anger, open the heart with compassion, and transform one’s relationship to life.”
—Phyllis Hicks, psychotherapist, meditation student, and teacher
Review
“[The authors’] profound respect and compassion for people, in our beauty and our pain, shine through these writings. The practices are skillfully presented. They are simple, doable, and deeply effective.”
—Kim Warren, MA, MS, meditator, small business owner, and caregiver
Review
“This clear and accessible guide reflects the decades of personal and professional experience of a key leader in the field of mindfulness as he offers simple and skillful ways to work with anger. Mindfulness professionals will appreciate his fresh perspective on classic mindfulness teachings. All looking for another way to work with forms of anger, ranging from the simmering of irritation to the large flames of rage, will learn how to transform these fiery energies without being burned. The specific, practical examples offered instill the reader with courage and confidence to experiment with new approaches to this challenging mind state.”
—Julie Kosey, MS, PCC, RYT, professional certified coach, mindfulness and yoga teacher, and founder and owner of Mindful Moments, LLC
Review
“If you yearn for understanding of your anger, this book is like a clearing in the middle of a chaos, arising from much experience, deep kindness, and care in skillful presentation. It guides you in disengaging from anger, shows you how to cool down these sensations, and teaches you to transform any strong emotions over time. In the process, you find a way to your inherent goodness, learn to embrace impermanence, and transcend the commonly held ideas of healing and peace.”
—Riitta H. Rutanen Whaley, MS, MSPH, founder of Yoga for Life, LLC; certified yoga teacher (RYT); and MBSR instructor at Duke Integrative Medicine
Review
“In their latest companion book, Jeffrey Brantley and Wendy Millstine share their personal experiences and insights about how to gain greater clarity and control over anger through mindfulness. Well organized, clear, authentic, and practical, I highly recommend this book as a skillful means to learning how to approach anger without fear, but rather with kindness, curiosity, and compassion.”
—Jeffrey M. Greeson, PhD, MS, assistant professor of clinical psychology in psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine
Review
“It has been said that dealing with anger can be like holding on to a hot coal. We may be right, but it is us suffering the damage. In this book, [the authors share] skills of mindfulness and practical wisdom that [they have] developed from years of meditation practice and helping people with difficult life experiences. Here are real ways to let go of anger and become more free.”
—Jon Seskevich, RN, BSN, CHTP, award-winning nurse clinician, pioneer in holistic nursing and integrative healing, and adjunct faculty member at the University of North Carolina, School of Nursing
Review
“The authors provide a welcome addition to the emerging applications of mindfulness by offering a practical blueprint for transforming the challenging emotion of anger into greater wisdom, mercy, and well-being. Practices designed to enhance attention, compassion, and insight gently guide the reader through the ‘doorway of anger’ toward a deeper understanding of its causes and conditions. This book brings to light the power of mindfulness to move one beyond the constrictions of anger and toward greater freedom and interconnection with all of life as it is being lived, moment by moment.”
—Ron Vereen, MD, psychiatrist in private practice, Durham, NC; consulting associate in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University; MBSR instructor at Duke Integrative Medicine; and cofounder of the Triangle Insight Meditation Community
Review
“Chapman and Gratz expand the boundaries of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and provide readers with a practical blueprint for managing destructive and excessive anger reactions. A must-read for anyone interested in reducing problematic anger, improving relationships, and enhancing inner peace.”—Raymond Chip Tafrate, PhD, professor and clinical psychologist in the department of criminology and criminal justice at Central Connecticut State University, coeditor of Forensic CBT, and coauthor of Anger Management for Everyone
Review
“Anger is an emotion that we all experience in varying degrees. However, intense and poorly modulated anger can greatly interfere with clients’ efforts at a central goal of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT): ‘building a life worth living.’ This compassionately written and motivating workbook is an essential resource for helping clients to understand, express, and effectively manage their anger in nondestructive ways. By teaching clients to apply core DBT skills specifically to help them cope with and manage their anger, this book is an indispensable and potentially life-changing therapeutic tool.”—Lori N. Scott, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and clinical psychologist and researcher with expertise in emotion dysregulation, aggression, and treatment approaches for borderline personality disorder
Review
“Anyone who gets angry will benefit from learning the skills in this highly readable yet scientifically sound book.”—Ruth Baer, PhD, professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky, and author of The Practicing Happiness Workbook
Review
“Chapman and Gratz have given us an excellent workbook that clearly explains dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) theory and shows us how to easily apply DBT skills to episodes of anger. It is clearly written, with many worksheets that help make the concepts come alive. Working through their mindfulness and emotion regulation exercises will surely be of help to all adults who suffer from problematic anger. I strongly recommend this workbook.”—Howard Kassinove, PhD, ABPP, professor of psychology and director of the Institute for the Study and Treatment of Anger and Aggression at Hofstra University
Review
“This much-needed workbook is sure to be a source of hope and relief for those who struggle with anger. Combining evidence-based skills with engaging examples and useful worksheets, this is a practical guide that will help readers learn strategies that work, and identify ways of using these skills in their daily lives. I highly recommend The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Anger.”—Katherine L. Dixon-Gordon, PhD, professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
Review
“It’s easy to chastise those who don’t control their anger and suggest their problem lies in a lack of motivation, but we now know that for many, the problem lies in a lack of anger management skills. This easy-to-read and easy-to-use workbook is framed in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and lays out a road map for identifying anger triggers and the skills that are essential to handling these triggers. Most impressive, the workbook artfully provides the reader with a broad menu of strategies while allowing each individual to zero in and really focus in the areas most central to their own struggles.”—Carl Lejuez, professor of psychology at the University of Maryland, College Park; founding director of the Center for Addictions, Personality, and Emotion Research; and founding editor of the journal Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment
Review
“Chapman and Gratz have tackled the significant human challenge of anger and provide a much-needed, easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide to making anger ‘an ally rather than an enemy.’ They provide skillful guidance in better understanding, recognizing, and responding to our own angry responses so that anger does not disrupt our lives. Their practical, compassionate approach will help clients (and therapists who work with them) to learn new skills for managing their anger, including how to express it effectively and how to recover following angry interactions. I highly recommend this book to anyone who struggles with anger, and to those committed to helping them lead more satisfying lives.”—Lizabeth Roemer, PhD, professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, and coauthor of The Mindful Way through Anxiety
Review
“The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Anger by Chapman and Gratz uses current dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) emotion theory and behavioral principles to create a practical, easy-to-read guidebook for managing unhelpful anger. Complex theory is broken down—step-by-step—into principles of change and then translated into realistic skills and user-friendly worksheets. This manual is a must-read for anyone struggling with how to understand, express, or regulate anger.”—Thomas R. Lynch, PhD, FBPsS, professor and director of the School of Psychology and director of the Emotion and Personality Bio-behavioural Laboratory at the University of Southampton, as well as chief investigator at REFRAMED
Review
“Dysregulated anger is a major part of the emotional instability dimension of borderline personality disorder (BPD). This skills workbook by Chapman and Gratz presents clients, in enriched detail, an abundant array of techniques, self-learning schemes, and practical exercises to enhance anger control capacity. Well done.”—Raymond W. Novaco, PhD, professor at the University of California, Irvine
Review
“In The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Anger, authors Chapman and Gratz present a nuanced view of anger, pointing out the benefits as well as the pitfalls of this complex and vexing emotion. The authors provide a thorough education on anger, beginning with a useful description of the many diagnoses and clinical presentations that anger often accompanies. They then walk readers through the components of anger, vulnerability factors for anger, keys to recognizing anger, and consequences of anger. They include strategies for increasing commitment to changing it, describe a range of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills for reducing it, provide methods to express it appropriately, offer ways of changing thinking that fuels it, and, importantly, suggest ways to repair relationships after inevitable anger ‘slipups’ occur. The book includes relevant case vignettes and numerous easy-to-use worksheets that help readers engage with and apply the material. Chapman and Gratz have produced a work in easy-to-understand, clear language that makes behavior therapy principles and DBT skills for the emotion of anger readily accessible to readers. I highly recommend their insightful and helpful book!”—Jill Rathus, PhD, professor of psychology at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, and codirector of Cognitive Behavioral Associates in Great Neck, NY
Synopsis
Written by two well-regarded experts in the field, The Anger Control Workbook introduces a new and radically simplified approach to anger control. Step-by-step exercises aid readers in identifying, understanding, responding to, and ultimately coping with their hostile feelings. 50 worksheets.
Synopsis
The toxic costs of anger are well understood: sabotaged careers, alienated family and friends, and even physical damage to a point where illness or an early death can result. Unlike previous models of anger control that began by combating anger-provoking trigger thoughts at a relatively low level of anger, The Anger Control Workbook introduces you to a streamlined new approach that allows you to exercise control at a higher level of anger so that fewer steps are involved in managing all of your problem anger expressions. Throughout, the book offers techniques in a clear, step-by-step format, arranged to make it easy to tailor a program to your own personal obstacles and triggering events.
Synopsis
The Anger Control Workbook offers a new and highly effective approach to anger control that gives you the tools you need to manage anger in your day-to-day life. You’ll get a deeper understanding of how anger affects all areas of your life—both physically and emotionally—and within a few weeks feel the benefits of controlling destructive anger. This workbook shows you how to practice new coping behaviors that allow you to gain control in anger-stimulating situations. Throughout, the techniques are streamlined and presented in a clear, step-by-step format, including numerous exercises and worksheets. It’s arranged to make it as easy as possible to put together a program tailored to your own personal obstacles and triggers.
This book has been awarded The Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Self-Help Seal of Merit — an award bestowed on outstanding self-help books that are consistent with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) principles and that incorporate scientifically tested strategies for overcoming mental health difficulties. Used alone or in conjunction with therapy, our books offer powerful tools readers can use to jump-start changes in their lives.
Synopsis
From Jeff Brantley, founder of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program at Duke Integrative Medicine and author of Calming Your Anxious Mind comes Calming Your Angry Mind. Inside, readers with anger management issues can find step-by-step mindfulness and compassion practices to help soothe anger, fear, and hostile emotions that can wreak havoc at home, work, and in relationships. Using mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) techniques, reader will also learn important awareness skills so that they can stop overreacting, improve communication with others, and live a more fulfilling life.
Synopsis
Anger is an intense emotion that everyone deals with, but when feelings of anger spiral out of control, they can get in the way of living a full and happy life. In Daily Meditations for Calming Your Angry Mind, leading mindfulness expert and best-selling author of Calming Your Anxious Mind, Jeffrey Brantley, offers practical, daily mindfulness-based meditations to help readers gain control of their emotional reactions, improve their relationships, and create balance, peace, and well-being.
Synopsis
Leading mindfulness expert and author of Calming Your Anxious Mind, Jeffrey Brantley, MD, offers daily mindfulness-based meditations to help you gain control of your emotional reactions, improve your relationships, and cultivate peace, balance, and well-being in your life.
Anger is an intense emotion that everyone deals with, but when feelings of anger spiral out of control they can get in the way of living a full and happy life. If you struggle with intense irritability or angry outbursts, you may feel like your reactions are beyond your control. But this simply isn’t true—you, and only you, have the power to change your life. You just need to be shown the way.
In Daily Meditations for Calming Your Angry Mind, Brantley details three different paths—or approaches—based in mindfulness and meditative perspectives, that you can choose from to take control of your anger, and your life. First, you’ll learn to disengage from your anger by pausing to be mindful when anger is happening. Second, you’ll discover ways to cool your anger using meditative practices to nurture kindness and compassion towards yourself and others. And third, you’ll find tips for practicing mindfulness to transform your understanding and realize your anger is not an identity, a defect, or a permanent condition.
These three practical and easy-to-use approaches to anger management have a strong basis in both ancient and modern traditions. With this book as your guide, you can finally overcome the tumultuous thoughts, feelings, and reactions that have been holding you back in life.
Synopsis
Anger is a natural, human emotion. But chronic anger can throw life out of balance and wreak havoc on relationships with family, friends, romantic partners, and work colleagues. The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Anger offers powerful, proven-effective dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) skills to help readers understand and manage anger. With this workbook as their guide, readers will learn to move past anger and start living better lives.
Synopsis
Do you struggle with anger? Is it hurting your relationships and holding you back from living the life you want? This book offers powerful, proven-effective dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) skills to help you understand and manage anger before it gets the better of you.
Anger is a natural human emotion, and everyone feels it at some point in their lives. But if you suffer from chronic anger, it can throw your life out of balance and wreak havoc on relationships with family, friends, romantic partners, and work colleagues. So, how can you get your anger under control before it causes real consequences?
Written by two world-renowned researchers in the field of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Anger offers evidence-based skills designed to help you understand, accept, and regulate chronic anger and other intense emotions. DBT is a powerful and proven-effective treatment for regulating intense emotions such as anger. With its dialectical focus on acceptance and change, its roots in basic behavioral and emotion science, and its practical, easy-to-use skills, DBT provides a unique and effective approach for understanding and managing anger.
If you're ready to move past your anger once and for alland start living a better lifethis book will show you how.
Synopsis
Physician Stanley Block and Carolyn Bryant Block present Mind-Body Workbook for Anger, their third workbook utilizing the mind-body bridging modality. Proven-effective in both clinical and research settings, the easy-to-use self-help exercises in this book teach readers how to stop identifying with angry thoughts and feelings, while allowing their bodies to relax and let go of unconscious tension. In this natural resting state, body and mind are both able to naturally heal and let go of habitual anger issues.
Synopsis
Do you have trouble controlling your anger? Have you lost friends, loved ones, or even found yourself in trouble with the law because you regularly lose your temper? If you have tried regular anger management therapy but havent been able to make any real, lasting changes in how you deal with your emotions, you should know that there are other treatment options available that can help.
With the Mind-Body Workbook for Anger, physician Stanley Block and Carolyn Bryant Block present their third workbook utilizing the innovative and successful mind-body bridging therapy. Proven-effective in both clinical and research settings, the easy-to-use self-help exercises in this book will teach you to stop identifying with angry thoughts and feelings, while allowing your body to relax and let go of unconscious tension. In this natural resting state, body and mind are both able to naturally heal and let go of habitual anger issues.
If you are looking for something new, beyond typical anger management classes, to help get your emotions under control, this book will give you the skills you need to make lasting change. To find out more about mind-body bridging, visit bridgingforlife.com
About the Author
Alexander L. Chapman, PhD, RPsych, is a psychologist and professor in the department of psychology at Simon Fraser University (SFU), as well as president of the DBT Centre of Vancouver. Chapman directs the Personality and Emotion Research Lab where he studies the role of emotion regulation in borderline personality disorder (BPD), self-harm, impulsivity, and other behavioral problems. His research is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Chapman received the Young Investigator’s Award of the National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder in 2007, the Canadian Psychological Association’s (CPA) Scientist Practitioner Early Career Award, and a Career Investigator Award from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. He has coauthored eight books—three of which received the 2012 Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) Self-Help Book Seal of Merit Award. Chapman is committed to bringing knowledge and skills from psychological science to people who need help managing their emotions. He has been practicing mindfulness for over fifteen years, practices martial arts, and enjoys hiking, skiing, reading, and spending time with his wonderful wife and two sons.
Kim L. Gratz, PhD, is professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the University of Mississippi Medical Center where she serves as director of the division of gender, sexuality, and health, as well as director of both personality disorders research and the Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Clinic. Gratz received the Young Investigator’s Award of the National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder in 2005, and the Mid-Career Investigator Award of the North American Society for the Study of Personality Disorders in 2015. She has written numerous journal articles and book chapters on borderline personality disorder (BPD), deliberate self-harm, and emotion regulation (among other topics), and is coauthor of four books on BPD, self-harm, and DBT, including The Borderline Personality Disorder Survival Guide, Borderline Personality Disorder, Freedom from Self-Harm, and The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Anxiety. Three of these books have received the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) Self-Help Book Seal of Merit Award. Gratz currently serves as principal investigator or coinvestigator on several large federal grants, including multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health.
Marsha M. Linehan, PhD, ABPP, is professor of psychology and director of the Behavioral Research and Therapy Clinics (BRTC) at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. She is author of Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder and Skills Training Manual for Treating Borderline Personality Disorder.
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