Working with Anger

Abstract

This chapter began from my clinical work and the ideas about angerprovoked by McCoy's seminal paper. McCoy points out that anxietyneed not culminate in hostility; rather, 'it can impel extensionof the system so that construction can be a closer, improved approximationof 'raw reality' than at present'. It was not clear to me why thatcannot also be true of anger. That is, there is no necessary culminationin hostility as a result of the experience of anger. My proposeddefinition of anger is as ' an emotional experience of invalidation'falls within this. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2005 APA, all rightsreserved) (from the chapter)