Getting Control of Yourself: Anger Management Tools & Techniques

In this oral presentation, California-based psychologist and author Dr. Christian Conte describes techniques and offers lessons he has learned in his anger-management counseling—much of which has involved keeping violence-prone convicts from losing control and turning into repeat offenders. Conte warns against the corrosive effect of the "cartoon world," an idealized, wishful expectation of ever-present happiness, respect, and satisfaction—which is, unfortunately, not reality. Using a prop marionette, Conte warns against letting other people pull your strings through insults and callouts. And he cites an example (courtesy of a former gang member) of a domestic dilemma (adultery, in this case) with no good option—reminding the viewer that one can at least choose a course that would have a "manageable" outcome, as opposed to murderous vengeance, which would not. Divided into chapters, some of the mini-lectures here are more geared to the mean-street environments, but the underlying principles are universal, and Conte makes the viewer pay fresh attention to paraphrasings based on old saws about cooling down, stepping back, taking a deep breath, and thinking things over (it may be worthwhile to note that Dr. Conte actually looks a bit like a massive WWE wrestler). A solid psychology title on a perennially timely topic, this is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)