Arranged as a group therapy manual, the material opens with acknowledgements and an introduction before moving into Session 1, with prompts for introductions, group guidelines and a clear overview of how Compassion-Focused Therapy can be applied to anger. The tone is direct and accessible, making it suitable for facilitated anger management groups as well as one-to-one therapeutic work where a shared written framework would help.
The early content explains anger through the Compassionate Mind model, linking difficult emotions to the way human brains have evolved. A key theme is that intense anger is not simply a personal failing, while still emphasising responsibility for how people work with their emotions and treat others. This balance may be helpful for adults who experience shame about anger, defensiveness, aggression, shutdown, or repeated conflict.
Practical sections introduce mindfulness as a way to notice anger as it arises, step back from the urge to lash out or withdraw, and build tolerance for the discomfort of not acting on anger. The manual also frames compassion as a form of strength rather than softness, with a focus on courage, honesty, self-soothing, understanding others and developing more flexible responses.
Likely users include therapists running anger groups, forensic or probation-linked practitioners, mental health workers, counsellors, and adults attending structured anger management or emotional regulation programmes. It could be printed for group sessions, used to support discussion about triggers and threat responses, or kept as a reference while practising mindfulness, compassion-focused exercises and more skilful ways of handling conflict. The manual is by Russell Kolts, Ph.D., drawing on Paul Gilbert’s Compassion-Focused Therapy model.
