Angry young men

interpersonal formulation of anger to effect change

Peter Cairns

Lawrence Howells

pp. 351-368

in: Roger Kingerlee, Martin Seager, Luke Sullivan (eds), The Palgrave handbook of male psychology and mental health, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019

Abstract

Young men frequently experience difficulties managing anger, but often receive very little effective help. In this chapter, we explore the reasons for this presentation, before outlining a model of problematic anger, based on emotion science and interpersonal psychology, which offers angry young men an opportunity to better understand their anger and bring about positive change. Angry feelings are seen as underpinned by underlying vulnerable feelings (e.g. feeling undermined or devalued), with angry expression an attempt to escape or manage such feelings. We argue that these strategies can serve to either reinforce the anger or leave it unresolved, so can become a trap for young men. We use this formulation to outline options for treatment and include illustrative case material.