Group interventions for anger in people with intellectual disabilities

This paper describes an evaluation of a group intervention for reducing ina ppropriately expressed anger (as aggression) in people with intellectual di sabilities. Group intervention was compared to a treatment as usual group c onsisting of people referred to the group but who had to wait to participat e. The intervention used was based on the work of Novaco (1976; 1978) and B enson (1994). However, further modifications to the group that emphasized t he contextual perspective of anger, such as the participants being accompan ied by a support worker and more collaborative recording procedures, were d evised. A reduction in expressed anger and measured levels of depression oc curred after group treatment. Reductions in expressed anger were maintained at 6 and 12 months follow up. However, scores on the depression scale tend ed to increase on follow up. While caution must be expressed when consideri ng these results, this type of intervention shows promise for reducing inap propriately expressed anger in people with intellectual disabilities Sugges tions are made for future research and clinical practice. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.