Doing Anger Differently: A Group Percussion Therapy for Angry Adolescent Boys

Abstract

This paper describes Doing Anger Differently (DAD), a group treatment for young adolescent boys with high levels of anger. The approach is school-based, 10 weeks long, and utilizes music in the form of percussion to engage this difficult to treat population into treatment and to represent the experience of anger. A tri-level intervention is described: the experience of anger and its influence on action; the formation of meaning and identity resulting from anger and aggression; and the emphasis on group work and the interpersonal basis of anger. Techniques used throughout the group are discussed and illustrative case vignettes are provided.