Anger Management Workbook
Anger Busting Workbook
Page 31
Anger Management Class: Putting on the Brakes
Chapter 1
Putting on the Brakes
Jerry and Carla, both 29 years old, have
been married for five years, and it seems as though
they have spent four of those years arguing. The arguments
really started when they were dating; they usually got
loud, but only once did it escalate to violence - Jerry
shoved Carla into the side of the car after the argument
that started over dinner at a restaurant got worse out
in the parking lot. He apologized, she forgave him,
and he proposed marriage the next week. For a while
it looked as if everything would be smooth sailing.
Of course, it wasn't. Everything about the wedding turned
into an argument, the honeymoon was one big argument,
and that pretty much set the tone for the marriage.
Jerry would be fine until Carla said something or did
something that set him off. He would rage,
maybe break something, apologize, replace whatever he
broke and promise to do better from then on. He seemed
to be genuinely sorry, and he was really sweet
after that, maybe for as long as a couple of weeks.
But then something else would set him off. The more
Carla tried to talk to him about it, the angrier and
more out of control he seemed to get. Lately, there
had been several incidents of shoving and slapping.
Carla had done her share of yelling and shoving;
she was getting pretty good at giving as good as she
got. But she hated it; she hated being trapped in this
kind of marriage, and there were plenty of days where
she found herself hating Jerry. The trip to the therapist
was her last hope. Something had to change soon. Thank
goodness they didn't have any children yet.
The therapy session started out
in typical fashion.
Therapist: Okay, why doesn't somebody
tell me why we are here.
Carla: I'll go first, I guess. After all,
coming to see you is kind of my idea. We just seem to
be fighting all the time. We will start having what
I think is a
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