Force hot-tempered individuals to undergo anger management therapy

SHAH ALAM - Individuals who are hot-tempered to the point of injuring others should not only be subject to legal action, they should be required to undergo a community service program as a step to better control their anger.

Lecturer and Researcher in Psychology at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Universiti Malaya (UM), Associate Professor Dr Mohd Awang Idris believes that an educational approach is more appropriate for anger management concerns.

According to him, it is normal for humans to be angry in response to certain conditions or pressures, but what distinguishes them is how they respond to those situations or pressures.

"I believe that forcing the individual in question to do social or community service is a good step, but only if the action taken is more educational than punitive, so they can learn to control their anger."

"In fact, I believe that these individuals must also undergo therapy as a self-rehabilitation process in order to deal with anger and do not act out of bounds when confronted with a situation that can cause anger," he told Sinar Harian on Sunday.

Further, Mohd Awang stated that it is time for the government, particularly the Health Ministry, to construct anger management centres, as is done in developed countries.

He added that awareness programmes to control anger are also vital to promote at this time, given the number of events of this nature that have been reported recently, particularly involving road users.

"If you look at the current government, it is putting a lot of emphasis on the issue of depression, which is a good thing, but we also have to look at today's challenge, which is that many people fail to control their anger, even in the face of minor incidents."

"This demonstrates that society's treatment of the issue of anger requires serious attention," he stated.