Buddhist Psychology Interventional Study

Running Head: BUDDHIST PSYCHOLOGY 1

Buddhist Psychology Helping Anger and Aggression

Hailey Stephens

Front Range Community College

BUDDHIST PSYCHOLOGY 2

Incorporating Buddhist Psychology into a Brief Group Therapy for Anger and Aggression In therapy for people that have anger problems or aggression problems, is the use of anger management techniques useful in gaining control of such behaviors? Is the use of cathartic techniques useful in controlling angry behavior? An interventional study made by Professor Dr. D. Eckstein and Dr. D. Mitchell, (2009) will discuss an interesting study using the process of incorporating mindfulness in Buddhist psychological principles and conventional Western

Eckstein and Mitchell (2009) tested 28 adults that are males, from most ethnicities, that are in a maximum-security correctional facility that are between the ages of eighteen years old and twenty-nine years old. Each participant has at least been admitted to a correctional facility at least once, if not more, and also has had a felony or multiple felony charges. The participants have already volunteered into an anger management program in the correctional facility. Due to that, this study started prior to the first session of the anger management program. (Eckstein & Mitchell,

The Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) and the Vengeance Scale (VS). The Aggression Scale comes along with 29 items and is also scored on five different scales. The scales include: Anger, Verbal Aggression, Hostility, Physical Aggression, and Total Score. The Vengeance Scale is based on the level of vengeful responses to what one believes is wrong (Eckstein & Mitchell, 2009). Each participant had to take a pre-treatment assessment and a post-treatment assessment in groups of ten, randomly selected, inmates and got as much time as they need to complete the assessments. The results of this study indicated that the Buddhist approach of treatment for anger and aggression has a decrease in those behaviors (Eckstein & Mitchell, 2009). Unfortunately, this case study lacked a control group and had other measurements that should have been applied within the study, making it impossible to distinguish promising change in behavior. The assessment process was judged over a time period relatively similar to the duration of treatment. Because of this, the results found suggest that the effects are due to the treatment process rather than the assessment process (Eckstein & Mitchell,