The therapeutic release of anger: Helen Watkins's silent abreaction and subsequent elaborations of the anger rock.

This paper summarizes Helen Watkins's (1980) silent abreaction technique for releasing anger and the subsequent elaborations it has inspired. Discussion of Watkins's seminal article incorporates her verbatim account of the technique, 2 clinical applications, and her encouragement of further adaptations. Other scholars' subsequent contributions include an adaptation for dissociative identity disorder, brief treatment of constant pain syndrome, and inpatient treatment of a suicidally depressed, dissociative survivor of sexual abuse. Commonalities and distinctions among Watkins's work and these modifications are discussed. New case material from the author's practice illustrate further elaborations, with emphasis on the role of releasing anger in the resolution of dissociative defenses and internal fragmentation in dissociative clients. To enhance the clinical utility of this paper, verbatim passages are included for all case illustrations in H. H. Watkins (1980), the 3 published elaborations, and the new case material.