Doing Anger Differently: Helping Adolescent Boys
The Age
Saturday February 16, 2008
Doing Anger Differently: Helping Adolescent Boys
Michael Currie Melbourne University Press, $34.95AT THE HEART OF THIS lucid and practical guide to helping angry adolescent boys is what Freud called "the family romance": the child's construction of the dynamics within his family. Michael Currie does not suggest that a son's aggression is simply the product of failed nuturing, or the result of "nature": genetic history. Nor does he see it as merely a developmental stage that cannot be changed. His primary message is that parents can make a difference. Their role is to be "intellectual midwife" to the boy's new understanding of his emotions and himself. It is important for parents to learn to recognise that anger is not the problem but a symptom of a fragile sense of self. Crucial to the whole process is the need for the boy to master the paradoxical truth that "respecting the law allows a freedom to do as one wishes". Even if your son is not yet an adolescent or troublesome, this book is worth reading as a "pre-emptive strike" on potential future problems.
© 2008 The Age