The Prevalence of State Anger and Trait Anger Within Psychiatric Outpatients

textabstractHigh trait anger reflects the tendency to experience more frequent, more intense and longer episodes of state anger (Spielberger, 1988). Anger is a clinically relevant emotion that increases the chance of: -Premature termination of treatment (Erwin et al., 2003). -A less strong therapeutic alliance (DiGiuseppe & Tafrate, 2010). -Resistance to change (Kassinove & Tafrate, 2002). -Less collaboration in goal setting (Hubble et al., 2004). Moreover, anger might lead to or result from other negative emotions and behaviors, such as anxiety, hostility, depression, and aggression. Therefore, our goal was to enquire about anger difficulties in psychiatric outpatients and to investigate the relationship between trait anger and aggression, hostility, and psychological distress within these patients