Adult Psychotherapy Homework Planner. Arthur E. Jongsma, Jr.

Take time to talk to yourself in calming, reasoned, and constructive sentences that move you toward anger control and away from hurtful expressions of anger.

      8 “I” Messages: Speak to the target of your anger, describing your feelings and needs rather than attacking, labeling, or describing the other person's behavior, motivations, or goals. Begin your sentences with “I feel . . .” or “I need . . . .”

      9 Other: Describe your own or your counselor's alternative to rage.

      APPLICATION TO DAILY LIFE

In the columns that follow, describe the date and time, the situation that prompted the angry response, the destructive response, and the alternative constructive response that might have been used. In the final row, instead of writing a full description of the alternative, you may simply enter the alphabetical indicator of the constructive alternative, A through I.

Entry 1	Situation
Day/Date
and Time:
__________
__________
	Response
	Alternative
	Response

      (NOTE: Please make additional copies of the next page for later entries.)

Entry	Situation
(# of entry)
Day/Date
and Time:
__________
__________	Response
	Alternative
	Response

Entry	Situation
(# of entry)
Day/Date
and Time:
__________
__________	Response
	Alternative
	Response

Therapist's Overview ANGER JOURNAL

      GOALS OF THE EXERCISE

      1 Develop an awareness of current angry behaviors, clarifying origins of and alternatives to aggressive anger.

      2 Keep a daily journal of persons, situations, and other triggers of anger; record thoughts, feelings, and actions taken.

      3 Decrease the number, intensity, and duration of angry outbursts while increasing the use of new skills for managing anger.

      ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR WHICH THIS EXERCISE MAY BE MOST USEFUL

       Antisocial Behavior

       Borderline Personality Disorder