Vicious Circles Manual: Anger Management for Men - Paperback

by Stephen Craig Simmer Phd (Author)

Anger has a unique place in a man's emotional life. For may men, uncomforable emotions surface as anger. Men have learned to trade pain for rage. Instead of simply feeling shame, despair, fear, or depression, they get mad. The Vicious Circles Manual provides an alternative for men who have come to recognize that they are emotionally bankrupt using this old exchange of emotions for anger. This alternative direction begins with Mad Science, the careful, objective evaluation of the angering process. It aims not at eliminating anger, but rather transforming it so that it can get what it really wants. This book provides a step-by-step map that can result in lasting emotional change. Not all anger is created equal. The Vicious Circles Manual describes six typical Vicious Circles of anger addiction. Anger addiction is an addiction to power--physical or emotional. Each of the Vicious Circles is an attempt to create a kind of value: peace, love, freedom, justice, order, or respect. But when we use anger to try to create these values, it backfires. We end up creating the opposite values--conflict, distance, confinement, injustice, chaos, and shame. Part of the Vicious Circles manual is the I-Rate test, which will help you identify your own type of addiction to power. The Vicious Circles Manual has a simple cognitive-behavioral approach to anger management. It has multiple worksheets and over 30 illustrations.

Author Biography

Stephen Simmer is a psychotherapist practicing in western Massachusetts. He has specialized in anger issues for twenty years. He has lectured widely, and has conducted over 250 daylong seminars for mental health professionals on anger work. He has a PhD in Religion and Psychology, and has taught at several colleges. He has also worked as a professional storyteller.