Anger Antidotes: How Not to Lose Your S#&!

by Ian Brennan

Strategies for living a crisis-free life in an imperfect world. Anger is at the root of most of the personal dilemmas we face. Frank, personal, and pithy, this book engages readers in a no-nonsense exploration of how we can effectively reach beyond ourselves to maintain calm in the face of crisis. The objective is to distill down to fundamental aspects the universal structures that form the basis of most human problems. It is usually our emotions that interfere with making sound choices. Thus, even the most learned individuals, who “know better,” are capable of making colossally stupid errors in judgment and conduct.

Presenting a range of deescalation techniques, each chapter has been concentrated into “mini- manuals” that in their totality contain a library’s worth of material. The left side of each two-page spread describes the anger trigger and the right side of the page spread contains the anger antidote. Topics covered include emotional immaturity, the absence of thought, extremes, inertia, reactor bait, and argument traps.

Genres: Psychology

184 pages, Paperback

First published April 25, 2011

Reviews

[Lexie · Rating 5 out of 5]

EXCELLENT. Clear, lucid thinking; accurate use of language; authority of experience. Short chapters; not a wasted word. Do you want to understand the underbelly of human behaviour ... and apply practical change in how you relate to others? Read and absorb this book.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite complex. Written from a sociological perspective.
I’ve been working in a mental health inpatient unit for almost 18 months now and a lot of the general ideas were well founded and helpful. However, even after finishing the book, I still couldn’t discern the target audience for the book; people with anger-related issues, their family members, professionals, students? I’m not sure, useful insights for each group but a lack of distinct voice.
As much as anger is universal, I felt the book was not very practical; taking a very cognitive approach.
Additionally, the format and commitment to brevity meant that connections between concepts were not well expanded. While I agreed with the assertions made, I sometimes found myself confused about how a concluding paragraph related to what the author had been talking about for the last page or so.
Generally, helpful and thought provoking. However, having some prior knowledge about anger/violence/aggression/ communication theory would certainly enhance your reading experience.

[Hanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

The bulk of the book was waaaay over my head. Very confusing writing style and layout. Save yourself the trouble and read the summary. That's the best part and sadly it wasn't terribly informative.