Veterans' responses to anger management intervention.

Anger management intervention is an integral part of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment in the Department of Veterans Affairs facilities across the country. However, the efficacy of such intervention has received little scientific study. This study was undertaken to describe the 51 male veterans who sought anger management intervention from March 1990 to March 1992 and to measure the efficacy of that intervention. The average participant was exposed to combat and was diagnosed with PTSD. The majority had a past or present substance abuse problem and described incidents of childhood trauma. Participants were tested at the first and final classes (State-Trait Anger Scale). Paired t-test analysis indicated a significant drop in both state- and trait-anger. Analysis of variance comparisons revealed that veterans with past psychological trauma had persistently higher mean anger scores than those without past trauma.