Background: Treatments for aggression are based on the underlying causes and may combine pharmacological and environmental or psychotherapeutic measures. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of family psychotherapy as a monotherapy for anger in female youth.
Methods: Female youth from a randomized sample (381 families) were interviewed over the telephone. Those from 36 of the families complained of subjectively increased aggression owing to conflict at home. A total of 13 of these families were randomly selected and took part in a family therapy programme for 6 months. The control group comprised 12 families. The responder rate was 92.6%. Aggression and change in aggression were measured using the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI).
Results: In comparison with the control group, significant changes on all five scales of STAXI (State-Anger, Trait-Anger, Anger-In, Anger-Out, Anger-Control) were observed after 6 months in the treated subjects (differences in change between the two groups were between 5.7% and 28.6%).
Conclusion: The results of this study show that ambulant family therapy appears to be a safe and effective method in the treatment of anger in aggressive female youth.