Anxiety management training and anger control for type A individuals.

The present study sought to explore whether training Type A coronary-prone individuals in stress management would result in a diminution of Type A behaviors. The effectiveness of a single-method approach that focused specifically on anger management was tested. Results showed that the treatment, a modified version of Suinn's Anxiety Management Training, was associated with significant reductions in Type A inventory (Jenkins Activity Survey) scores. Two possible explanations for the results were entertained. First, Type A subjects may have experienced a sense of increased control over potentially threatening person-environment transactions which decreased the need for Type A coping behaviors. And second, the program may have caused Type A subjects to become hypersensitive to the uncomfortable symptoms of stress, and since some Type A behaviors induce stress, Type B behavior may have been negatively reinforced by symptom reduction. It was concluded that the most promising therapeutic target for change may be anger/hostility and that a narrow-focus single-method approach may be the most efficient and effective strategy for modifying coronary-prone behaviors.