ABSTRACT
A compassionate conceptualisation of rage, as a coping mechanism in the face of archaic or more recent trauma that individuals have no conscious control over and which constitutes a cry for help, is a controversial one. Some may say that I am offering excuses or being ‘soft’ on abusers, but nothing could be further from the truth. Violence of any kind is abhorrent; I am no supporter of it and firmly believe that those who commit violent acts should be held accountable and justly punished. However, I am equally clear that no one should ever, under any circumstances, experience punishment or regulation (Foucault, 1977) as an element of the therapy for their difficulties. Separating the issues of punishment and regulation from therapy is an ethical issue that I am passionately committed to. My empathic approach to rage is underpinned by a positive view of human nature (see Chapter 1) and is supported by psychotherapeutic outcomes research, which is reviewed in Chapter 3; it constitutes a direct challenge to other approaches which overtly or covertly punish or regulate participants (see Chapter 2) through making attendance mandatory, and prescribing tasks to be completed, assuming that they have cognitive control over their rage and could simply choose to change their behaviour or that their sole motivation is a desire to dominate women.
