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The Anger Habit
Book

The Anger Habit

Proven Principles to Calm the Stormy Mind

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audio autogenerado
audio autogenerado

Editorial Rating

6

Qualities

  • Applicable

Recommendation

This short book offers a solution to a difficult and dangerous problem: habitual, uncontrollable anger. Such anger, explain authors Carl Semmelroth and Donald E. P. Smith, is a bad habit, and other habits may trigger it. Just as smokers get the urge for a cigarette at certain times, such as after a meal, while having a drink or while socializing, angry people assert their anger according to repetitive patterns. They may explode, for example, in response to inconsiderate drivers, disobedient children or perceived slights from employers. They stoke their tantrums with feelings of frustration and negative interpretations of the conduct of others. They fantasize frequently about how they will get control over those they see as their antagonists. Semmelroth and Smith do not tell anger addicts to temper their outbursts. Instead, they believe angry people must break the habit altogether, by replacing rage with reason and trying to understand the deeper side of their own feelings. Although this idea has merit, the authors offer their prescription with, perhaps, less than fair warning of just how difficult it is to change habits as deeply rooted as those that nourish anger. With this caution, getAbstract.com suggests that people whose rages have become uncontrollable – or those who have to work or live with them – may benefit greatly from the ideas in this book.

Take-Aways

  • Anger is a habit - an ingrained, automatic response to circumstances.
  • People with an anger habit unconsciously create a mental environment that predisposes them to this emotion.
  • Through their interpretations of the actions and motivations of others, they work themselves into a fury.

About the Authors

Carl Semmelroth, Ph.D., has been a mental health practitioner in Michigan for more than 25 years. Donald E. P. Smith, Ph.D., is emeritus professor of educational psychology at the University of Michigan. He is the author of six books and numerous journal articles.


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