Mini Workshop 9 - Engagement Strategies for Reluctant and Difficult Clients: Using Ancient Stoicism to Teach Anger Management

Across the three waves of cognitive behavioral therapy, various evidence-based strategies for anger management have been developed. Often the individuals who come in for anger management are difficult to engage, due to preconceived notions about therapy or being coerced into treatment. In recent years, Stoic philosophy has become incredibly popular in the lay culture. Many of the most popular podcasts and several popular press authors have written self-improvement guides based on the principles of ancient Stoicism. Frequently clients who are hardest to engage in therapy are interested in Stoicism and have learned about it from these popular press sources. When Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck developed the cognitive therapies, they cited the ancient Stoics as their inspiration. The famous quote from Epictetus explained we are not upset by things but by our views of them (i.e., the cognitive model). Ancient Stoicism is actually more compatible with third wave CBT than the second wave. The principles of stoicism involve teaching people to be non-judgmental, learn acceptance to the limitations of their control, and focus on living a good life guided by values. The ancient Stoics had explicit and detailed anger management strategies and teachings. This clinical round table will focus on discussing the common strategies for anger management across the big tent of CBT (e.g., CBT, DBT, ACT) and explore examples from Stoicism that could be used to teach these principles. In this way, Stoicism becomes a delivery model for teaching evidence-based strategies. Emphasis will be on teaching strategies which are immediately applicable and usable to attendees. Handouts will be included.

Recommended Reading 1: Robertson, D. & Codd, R. T. (2019). Stoic philosophy as Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy. The Behavior Therapist, 42(2), 42-49.

Recommended Reading 2: Berkout, O. V., Tinsley, D., & Flynn, M. K. (2019). A review of anger, hostility, and aggression from an ACT perspective. Journal of contextual behavioral science, 11, 34-43.

Recommended Reading 3: Eifert, G. H., & Forsyth, J. P. (2011). The application of acceptance and commitment therapy to problem anger. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 18(2), 241-250.