Psychology A2 Forensics

972 Words4 Pages
Farwah Hussain - Essay a) Anger Management skills and programmes can be used to help people who are having problems with their anger to recognise potentially violent situations before the violence occurs and respond in a calculated, non-violent matter. In the UK, the anger management programme used is called CALM. This treatment programme teaches people to monitor and understand their emotions in order to prevent problematic behaviour. The treatment goes through 6 stages, firstly they assess offender’s motivation to change behaviour and it is usually necessary to persuade the candidate that this is a course they want to be on. The second stage is identifying physiological changes when becoming angry such a rise in temperature. Thirdly the person can recognise and understand how irrational thoughts affect behaviour. After this, the person can learn good communication skills to deal with situations and taking responsibility for their behaviour and practising skills in new situations. Lastly is identifying risk situations to prepare for future experiences. Ireland et al aimed to find out whether anger management programmes reduce aggression in young male offenders. He used a sample of 37 prisoners who went through the CALM treatment programme. There was also a control group of 50 offenders who did not go through any treatment programme. Ireland used a self-report method and it was done before the treatment and also after. Ireland found that 92% of prisoners had improved on at least one of the measures and 48% of prisoners had improved on two of the measures. He also found that the staff on the wing of the prison stated the prisoners were much calmer after the treatment programme and the participants rated themselves as feeling much calmer on the self-report method. Overall, the results show that the CALM treatment programme clearly had an effect on the offenders
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