Systems conceptualization and treatment of anger

Clinicians. researchers, and patients tend to view anger as attributable to immediate circumstances and current thoughts. In contrast, systems oriente d thinking approaches anger as a contextual and dynamic phenomenon. Persona l dispositional systems of anger (cognitive, physiological. and behavioral) are embedded in an interdependent network of interpersonal and environment al systems. Anger coevolves with and is in equilibrium with these systems. The more adaptive and embedded it is within a system. the greater will be i ts inertia or resistance to change. The auto maticity of anger further chal lenges its regulation. as does its transfer across domains. Other troubleso me systems phenomena associated with anger and aggression are escalation an d threshold effects. Anger arousal. as a deviation from homeostasis, is inh ibited and counteracted by various negative feedback loops that are propert ies of internal. interpersonal, and environmental systems. Treatment augmen ts anger-regulatory mechanisms. Interventions aimed at anger reduction shou ld consider the systems in which anger is embedded and the adaptive functio ns angler serves within those systems. These and other systems concepts are explicated and are illustrated with material from two clinical cases. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons. Inc.