ABSTRACT
This chapter argues the case for adopting a relational approach to working with anger and rage by identifying the shortcomings of the anger management interventions that currently dominate state-funded provision; counselling and psychotherapy research is reviewed which consistently asserts the significant effect of the therapeutic relationship on positive outcomes in therapy, along with current developments in neuroscience where brain imaging technology means that the positive impact of empathy on the brain can now be observed. The rationale, philosophy and practice of a relational approach are briefly introduced and it is argued that if rage is conceived of as the inability to process life’s experiences due to a backlog of events which have not yet been come to terms with, then it follows that the remedy is to ‘feel things through’; it is suggested here that a warm, empathic and real relationship is the best environment in which to do this.
