Anger Management in Counseling and Psychotherapy
by Raymond Chip Tafrate & Howard Kassinove
Watch anger experts Howard Kassinove and Chip Tafrate demystify the challenging work of anger management in this indispensable video! Whatever your professional setting, you’ll breathe easier with this practical, empirically validated showcase of exercises, live sessions, and tools to strengthen your practice.
Because angry clients present unique challenges for clinicians, a uniquely tailored game plan is essential for success. In this engaging video for mental health professionals of all types, anger experts Dr. Howard Kassinove and Dr. Raymond Chip Tafrate present live case examples of their anger episode model—an empirically developed approach geared specifically to anger management. With behavioral definitions, thorough assessment strategies, and structured interventions, this comprehensive resource serves as an invaluable guide to best practices with this difficult population.

Kassinove and Tafrate break down the model via live sessions with a broad range of clients. You’ll watch Tafrate gain the trust of Carmelo, a young man who needs convincing that the volatile components of his anger warrant treatment. Lisa learns to self-soothe with progressive muscle relaxation, a widely adaptable mindfulness exercise led here by Kassinove. In a nod to Albert Ellis, Kassinove introduces the ABC method to Joan, a mother angered by her adult daughter’s continued rejection of her phone calls (or so she thinks!).

Problem-solving, the provocative “Barb technique,” and forgiveness are covered too—the latter demonstrated in a heart-rending conversation between Tafrate and Walt, a man who found healing through the long process of forgiving his son’s murderer. Differentiating forgiving from forgetting, condoning, or excusing, Tafrate validates both the sensitivity of his client’s experience and the clinical use of forgiveness as a powerfully effective intervention.

Highlighting both change and acceptance, the two experts demonstrate key concepts and take you through the various stages of the anger experience. In an empathic, methodical, and informative style, they cover assessing and increasing client motivation, recognizing and working with triggers, shifting maladaptive cognitive appraisals, and more.

Simply put, this video is a must-have in your anger management arsenal. Whatever your theoretical orientation, you’ll find a plethora of enlightening tools to help clients reduce and manage their anger.

What therapists are saying…

"This is an absolute first-class demonstration of theoretical ideas and practical techniques in the treatment of anger. Drs. Kassinove and Tafrate have provided a set of very comprehensive, detailed, and occasionally powerful clinical vignettes exhibiting a multifaceted approach to anger management. I recommend this video most highly!"

-- E. Thomas Dowd, PhD, ABPP, President, American Board of Cognitive and Behavioral Psychology

"An enormously useful CBT resource! The opportunity to watch Kassinove and Tafrate's assessment and intervention techniques being carried out with clients is a powerful learning tool, enhanced by the variety of anger problems and strategies demonstrated. This video will be helpful to experienced practitioners as well as those in training."

-- Damon Mitchell, PhD, Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Central Connecticut State University
"An excellent training resource for anyone aiming to master the approach set by the two leading experts in the field. Kassinove and Tafrate model how to discuss anger episodes with patients and provide practical demonstrations of key therapeutic techniques including assertiveness, relaxation, and forgiveness. As an old Russian proverb goes, 'It's better to see once than to hear a hundred times.'"

-- Denis Sukodolsky, PhD, Assistant Professor, Yale University Child Study Center
"As a practitioner, teacher and researcher, I consider this video essential for anyone wanting a clear understanding of the traditional cognitive-behavioral approach to problematic anger. Kassinove and Tafrate offer a comprehensive model for evidence-based assessment and treatment, and provide both nuance and general guidelines necessary for clinicians of any level."

-- Frank L. Gardner, PhD, ABPP, Professor of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai
"Presents a solid conceptualization of anger and anger management in counseling. ... a great resource for counselors and counselor educators."

-- Coralis Solomon and Shaywanna Harris, reviewed in The Professional Counselor
"This video is a comprehensive and welcomed resource for clinicians and trainees who are working under the proper supervision. The models described are consistent with other popular approaches in the field, such as CBT and emotion-focused therapy, while also introducing more directive approaches such as the Barb technique.... Kassinove and Tafrate have contributed a useful tool to add to the anger management field."

-- Sara Martino, reviewed in PsycCRITIQUES
In Depth
Specs
Bios
Angry clients present complexities that challenge new and seasoned clinicians alike. Between the need to establish a strong working alliance with mandated clients, increase motivation in the face of therapeutic ambivalence, gain agreement on anger triggers, and navigate the mental terrain of clients who minimize their own role in their anger, therapists require approaches tailored to a condition much less understood than formal clinical disorders (such as anxiety or depression). In this video, two anger experts—Drs. Howard Kassinove and Chip Tafrate—offer a series of live case examples grounded in their research-based anger episode model, designed to support both clients and clinicians in understanding the variations of the anger experience.

Kassinove and Tafrate treat no less than seven different clients in this comprehensive video, with each vignette tied to a particular technique. Key concepts such as assessment, verbal reinforcement, interviewing, identifying triggers, relaxation techniques, and forgiveness are demonstrated, with introductory commentary and instructive captioning.

You’ll find valuable takeaways in each section—and prepare to be moved by an interview between Tafrate and Walt, a man who found healing through the long process of forgiving—even to the point of befriending—his son’s murderer. Less radical yet no less important are Kassinove’s before-and-after sessions with Ian (the latter a one year follow-up), a young adult seeking help after a difficult breakup. The two clinicians balance inner change work with interventions to support letting go, making for a refreshing, contemporary take on anger control.

This information-packed video demystifies not just anger treatment, but the anger experience itself. Give yourself the opportunity to learn from these two experts by adding this resource to your library today.

By watching this video, you will:
  • Understand the clinical variations of the anger experience, including its emotional, cognitive, and somatic elements.
  • Learn strategies to assess and increase motivation with ambivalent clients.
  • Identify a range of techniques to help clients reduce or manage their anger.

Length of video: 2:50:00

English subtitles available

Individual ISBN-10 #: 1-60124-388-X

Group ISBN-10 #: 1-60124-389-8

Group ISBN-13 #: 978-1-60124-389-8

Raymond Chip Tafrate, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, professor, and chairperson of the Criminology and Criminal Justice Department at Central Connecticut State University. He has over ten years experience providing client services in outpatient settings. Tafrate serves as a consultant to state criminal justice agencies and trains practitioners in client engagement skills and the application of cognitive-behavioral interventions. His research on the nature and treatment of anger has been published in scientific journals, books for researchers and practitioners, and has been presented at international conferences. Howard Kassinove, PhD, is a board-certified clinical psychologist who served for 14 years as Chairperson of the Psychology Department at Hofstra University. Past Director of their PhD program in Clinical & School Psychology, he is currently Director of the Institute for the Study and Treatment of Anger and Aggression. Dr. Kassinove is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, the Albert Ellis Institute, and the Behavior Therapy and Research Society. He has authored more than 65 published papers, and edited Anger Disorders: Definition, Diagnosis and Treatment. He has also lectured worldwide.
You May Also Like…