Do you struggle with anger? Is it hurting your relationships and holding you back from living the life you want? This book offers powerful, proven-effective dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) skills to help you understand and manage anger before it gets the better of you.

Anger is a natural human emotion, and everyone feels it at some point in their lives. But if you suffer from chronic anger, it can throw your life out of balance and wreak havoc on relationships with family, friends, romantic partners, and work colleagues. So, how can you get your anger under control before it causes real consequences?

Written by two world-renowned researchers in the field of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Anger offers evidence-based skills designed to help you understand, accept, and regulate chronic anger and other intense emotions. DBT is a powerful and proven-effective treatment for regulating intense emotions such as anger. With its dialectical focus on acceptance and change, its roots in basic behavioral and emotion science, and its practical, easy-to-use skills, DBT provides a unique and effective approach for understanding and managing anger.

If you're ready to move past your anger once and for all—and start living a better life—this book will show you how.

Alexander L. Chapman's profile page

Kim L. Gratz's profile page

Marsha M. Linehan's profile page

Alexander L. Chapman, PhD, RPsych, is a psychologist and professor in the department of psychology at Simon Fraser University (SFU), as well as president of the DBT Centre of Vancouver. Chapman directs the Personality and Emotion Research Lab where he studies the role of emotion regulation in borderline personality disorder (BPD), self-harm, impulsivity, and other behavioral problems. His research is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Chapman received the Young Investigator’s Award of the National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder in 2007, the Canadian Psychological Association’s (CPA) Scientist Practitioner Early Career Award, and a Career Investigator Award from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. He has coauthored eight books—three of which received the 2012 Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) Self-Help Book Seal of Merit Award. Chapman is committed to bringing knowledge and skills from psychological science to people who need help managing their emotions. He has been practicing mindfulness for over fifteen years, practices martial arts, and enjoys hiking, skiing, reading, and spending time with his wonderful wife and two sons.

Kim L. Gratz, PhD, is professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the University of Mississippi Medical Center where she serves as director of the division of gender, sexuality, and health, as well as director of both personality disorders research and the Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Clinic. Gratz received the Young Investigator’s Award of the National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder in 2005, and the Mid-Career Investigator Award of the North American Society for the Study of Personality Disorders in 2015. She has written numerous journal articles and book chapters on borderline personality disorder (BPD), deliberate self-harm, and emotion regulation (among other topics), and is coauthor of four books on BPD, self-harm, and DBT, including The Borderline Personality Disorder Survival Guide, Borderline Personality Disorder, Freedom from Self-Harm, and The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Anxiety. Three of these books have received the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) Self-Help Book Seal of Merit Award. Gratz currently serves as principal investigator or coinvestigator on several large federal grants, including multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health.

Foreword writer Marsha M. Linehan, PhD, ABPP, is professor of psychology and director of the Behavioral Research and Therapy Clinics (BRTC) at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. She is author of Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder and Skills Training Manual for Treating Borderline Personality Disorder.

“Anger is an emotion that we all experience in varying degrees. However, intense and poorly modulated anger can greatly interfere with clients’ efforts at a central goal of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT): ‘building a life worth living.’ This compassionately written and motivating workbook is an essential resource for helping clients to understand, express, and effectively manage their anger in nondestructive ways. By teaching clients to apply core DBT skills specifically to help them cope with and manage their anger, this book is an indispensable and potentially life-changing therapeutic tool.”
—Lori N. Scott, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and clinical psychologist and researcher with expertise in emotion dysregulation, aggression, and treatment approaches for borderline personality disorder

“Dysregulated anger is a major part of the emotional instability dimension of borderline personality disorder (BPD). This skills workbook by Chapman and Gratz presents clients, in enriched detail, an abundant array of techniques, self-learning schemes, and practical exercises to enhance anger control capacity. Well done.”
—Raymond W. Novaco, PhD, professor at the University of California, Irvine

“Chapman and Gratz have tackled the significant human challenge of anger and provide a much-needed, easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide to making anger ‘an ally rather than an enemy.’ They provide skillful guidance in better understanding, recognizing, and responding to our own angry responses so that anger does not disrupt our lives. Their practical, compassionate approach will help clients (and therapists who work with them) to learn new skills for managing their anger, including how to express it effectively and how to recover following angry interactions. I highly recommend this book to anyone who struggles with anger, and to those committed to helping them lead more satisfying lives.”
—Lizabeth Roemer, PhD, professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, and coauthor of The Mindful Way through Anxiety

“In The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Anger, authors Chapman and Gratz present a nuanced view of anger, pointing out the benefits as well as the pitfalls of this complex and vexing emotion. The authors provide a thorough education on anger, beginning with a useful description of the many diagnoses and clinical presentations that anger often accompanies. They then walk readers through the components of anger, vulnerability factors for anger, keys to recognizing anger, and consequences of anger. They include strategies for increasing commitment to changing it, describe a range of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills for reducing it, provide methods to express it appropriately, offer ways of changing thinking that fuels it, and, importantly, suggest ways to repair relationships after inevitable anger ‘slipups’ occur. The book includes relevant case vignettes and numerous easy-to-use worksheets that help readers engage with and apply the material. Chapman and Gratz have produced a work in easy-to-understand, clear language that makes behavior therapy principles and DBT skills for the emotion of anger readily accessible to readers. I highly recommend their insightful and helpful book!”
—Jill Rathus, PhD, professor of psychology at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, and codirector of Cognitive Behavioral Associates in Great Neck, NY

“Chapman and Gratz have given us an excellent workbook that clearly explains dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) theory and shows us how to easily apply DBT skills to episodes of anger. It is clearly written, with many worksheets that help make the concepts come alive. Working through their mindfulness and emotion regulation exercises will surely be of help to all adults who suffer from problematic anger. I strongly recommend this workbook.”
—Howard Kassinove, PhD, ABPP, professor of psychology and director of the Institute for the Study and Treatment of Anger and Aggression at Hofstra University

“It’s easy to chastise those who don’t control their anger and suggest their problem lies in a lack of motivation, but we now know that for many, the problem lies in a lack of anger management skills. This easy-to-read and easy-to-use workbook is framed in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and lays out a road map for identifying anger triggers and the skills that are essential to handling these triggers. Most impressive, the workbook artfully provides the reader with a broad menu of strategies while allowing each individual to zero in and really focus in the areas most central to their own struggles.”
—Carl Lejuez, professor of psychology at the University of Maryland, College Park; founding director of the Center for Addictions, Personality, and Emotion Research; and founding editor of the journal Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment

“Chapman and Gratz expand the boundaries of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and provide readers with a practical blueprint for managing destructive and excessive anger reactions. A must-read for anyone interested in reducing problematic anger, improving relationships, and enhancing inner peace.”
—Raymond Chip Tafrate, PhD, professor and clinical psychologist in the department of criminology and criminal justice at Central Connecticut State University, coeditor of Forensic CBT, and coauthor of Anger Management for Everyone

“This much-needed workbook is sure to be a source of hope and relief for those who struggle with anger. Combining evidence-based skills with engaging examples and useful worksheets, this is a practical guide that will help readers learn strategies that work, and identify ways of using these skills in their daily lives. I highly recommend The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Anger.”
—Katherine L. Dixon-Gordon, PhD, professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst

“Anyone who gets angry will benefit from learning the skills in this highly readable yet scientifically sound book.”
—Ruth Baer, PhD,professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky, and author of The Practicing Happiness Workbook

“The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Anger by Chapman and Gratz uses current dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) emotion theory and behavioral principles to create a practical, easy-to-read guidebook for managing unhelpful anger. Complex theory is broken down—step-by-step—into principles of change and then translated into realistic skills and user-friendly worksheets. This manual is a must-read for anyone struggling with how to understand, express, or regulate anger.”
—Thomas R. Lynch, PhD, FBPsS, professor and director of the School of Psychology and director of the Emotion and Personality Bio-behavioural Laboratory at the University of Southampton, as well as chief investigator at REFRAMED