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Anger Management
Saturday, January 23, 2010
How to Give Criticism - An Important Part of An Anger Management Class
Offering criticism is one of the most common situations that creates an anger management situation. In part this is because of the definition most of us go by - to find fault with others. Nobody likes to be told what they are doing wrong so its no wonder that criticism offered in this spirit creates tension and anger.
Thats why lessons in how to offer criticism are so important in an effective anger management class. The first step in minimizing the need for anger management is to change how we define criticism. Our class uses a model based on Randy Garner's GRIPE method in which criticism should be given with the following in mind:
1) Problem-focused, not personal
2) Specific, not vague
3) Descriptive, rather than judgmental or blaming
To my knowledge no other anger management class offers training in this area. Which is really a shame when you think about it because you can learn all the self control anger management techniques in the world, but if you still don't know how to communicate in ways that don't put people on the defensive (which most of us don't - its a skill, not something that comes naturally for most of us) you are still going to find yourself in many anger loaded situations. You can find more information about how to offer effective criticism here.
Thats why lessons in how to offer criticism are so important in an effective anger management class. The first step in minimizing the need for anger management is to change how we define criticism. Our class uses a model based on Randy Garner's GRIPE method in which criticism should be given with the following in mind:
1) Problem-focused, not personal
2) Specific, not vague
3) Descriptive, rather than judgmental or blaming
To my knowledge no other anger management class offers training in this area. Which is really a shame when you think about it because you can learn all the self control anger management techniques in the world, but if you still don't know how to communicate in ways that don't put people on the defensive (which most of us don't - its a skill, not something that comes naturally for most of us) you are still going to find yourself in many anger loaded situations. You can find more information about how to offer effective criticism here.
Anger management advice by Dr. Joe James at 5:59 AM
