Handling Anger in the Alcohol/Drug Impaired Subject

Course Number: AL-247
Course Length: 1/2 Day (3 Hours)

Police officers, Sheriff’s deputies, probation and parole officers, treatment specialists, health care professionals and others come into professional contact on a regular basis with persons who are both impaired and angry. This situation is not inevitable, as persons who drink alcoholic beverages do not always feel, or display, anger. Anger is only one of a normal set of human emotions. As an emotion, anger is simply a direct feeling of response to internal or external stimuli, just like sadness, joy and hurt. If an internal conflict is continued too long without resolution, certain predisposed individuals will turn to alcohol, either for resolution or diversion (to forget the causes of conflict). Anger will not normally dissipate unless handled appropriately. This workshop will discuss the links and manifestations of anger with alcohol/drug impairment. Various pros and cons of a variety of actions and strategies of handling this anger are covered, as each differs in its appropriateness, effectiveness and risks for making things worse. Topics include cultural differences, linkage of anger to perceived weakness, the chemical influence on emotions, probability of an anger reaction, assessment of physical danger from the anger, and suggestion for minimizing the acting out of anger in impaired persons.

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