The Compassionate-Mind Guide to Managing Your Anger: Using Compassion-Focused Therapy to Calm Your Rage and Heal Your Relationships - Softcover

Russell Kolts

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1608820378 ISBN 13: 9781608820375

Publisher: New Harbinger Publications, 2012

Synopsis

Anger is often rooted in deep fears and pain that set off defensive threat reactions, and those with anger management problems may go back and forth between justifying their anger and feeling ashamed because of it. The Compassionate-Mind Guide to Managing Your Anger takes a unique approach to helping readers overcome anger called compassion-focused therapy (CFT). Written by a clinical psychologist who has pioneered the application of CFT to working with anger in prison and other settings, this book addresses the evolutionary origins of anger and offers readers CFT skills for understanding their own anger, feeling compassion for themselves, and developing compassion for others, including the targets of their anger. Readers will identify the triggers that most often activate their anger and learn to reroute the habitual thought processes that maintain anger. By developing mindfulness and compassion skills, readers can learn to notice automatic anger processes as they arise, step back from them, and replace them with compassionate strategies that will assist them in working with difficult emotions and improving their relationships. 

About this title

About the Author

Russell Kolts, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and director of the Inland Northwest Compassionate Mind Center in Spokane, WA, USA. He is the author or coauthor of numerous books and scholarly articles, including CFT Made Simple and An Open-Hearted Life (with Thubten Chodron).  He regularly conducts trainings on compassion and compassion-focused therapy. Foreword writer Paul Gilbert, Ph.D., is a professor at the University of Derby in the United Kingdom, director of the mental health research unit at Derbyshire Mental Health Trust, and author of The Compassionate Mind.

Review

“With clear insights and easy-to-follow exercises, this innovative book teaches how to develop self-compassion so that anger can be transformed into a more peaceful state of mind.”
—Kristin Neff, PhD, author of Self-Compassion and associate professor of human development and culture at the University of Texas at Austin

“In The Compassionate-Mind Guide to Managing Your Anger, Russell Kolts provides us with a novel approach to managing anger: compassionate mind training. Pointing out that we may not have a choice about how our brains react to provocation, Kolts skillfully shows that we do have a choice of how we respond. By calling upon our ability to experience compassion and empathy for others, he provides a number of helpful techniques that can turn anger around.”
—Robert L. Leahy, PhD, director of the American Institute for Cognitive Therapy and clinical professor of psychology at Weill-Cornell University Medical College

“This intriguing book will bring a sigh of relief to anyone struggling with anger. It’s not your fault that you experience anger, yet there is a lot you can do about it. Why do we get angry? What happens within us when we’re angry? Why is it so sticky? Russell Kolts gently escorts the reader to a deep, comprehensive understanding of anger and offers revolutionary new strategies for taming this common affliction. There is much here to inspire and illuminate both professional and non-professional audiences.”
—Christopher K. Germer, PhD, clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School and author of The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion

“With his compassion-focused approach to anger management, Russell Kolts has produced an important book that will be of interest both to the general public and to mental health practitioners. Kolts shows us how to use compassion as a motivating force to care for others, improve ourselves, and make relationships better. The chapters are filled with very useful thought questions and exercises that quickly increase self-awareness. Kolts writes in an appealing manner that makes the book an easy read.”
—Howard Kassinove, PhD, ABPP, professor of psychology and director of the Institute for the Study and Treatment of Anger and Aggression at Hofstra University

“In this wonderful, kind, and compassionate book, Kolts reaches out with true heartfulness to those who struggle with problematic levels of anger. In a strikingly nonjudgmental, wise, and warm tone, he offers a path of loving-kindness and self-forgiveness that can directly lead you to a far better relationship with anger. This can open up remarkable new possibilities in life as you walk forward with ever-greater self-compassion and self-regulation into a world of improved relationships, diminished stress, and mindful awareness. This is more than anger management—it is an avenue toward personal transformation.”
—Dennis D. Tirch, PhD, author of The Compassionate-Mind Guide to Overcoming Anxiety

“Cultivating compassion for ourselves and others can bring balance and harmony to our lives in a way we never dreamed of. Russell Kolts tells us how to do this with the gentleness, humor, and patience of someone who practices his own advice and, from first-hand experience, knows it works.”
—Thubten Chodron, Buddhist teacher and author of Working with Anger

“Full of useful information and practical suggestions. Kolts has created a powerful blueprint to help readers to develop a compassionate mindset, make better life choices, and foster more fulfilling relationships. He makes the case for compassion as an antidote to the loss and suffering that anger creates in our modern world.”
—Raymond Chip Tafrate, PhD, professor and chair in the department of criminology at Central Connecticut State University and coauthor of Anger Management for Everyone

Edition details

• Publisher: New Harbinger Publications
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1608820378
• ISBN 13: 9781608820375
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288