In the present study, an anger management treatment program was compared to a pseudo-social skills training program (self-help group) and waiting list control group to determine its effectiveness in reducing irritable/angry behavior in head injured subjects. Subjects consisted of 28 adults with previous head injury trauma who had difficulty with excessive irritability and anger. Subjects averaged 35.4 years of age and had an average of 8.9 years post head injury. Treatment consisted of 10 group sessions over a five week period. Anger management training was designed to teach subjects self management skills aimed at reducing the frequency of angry acting out behavior. Training methods included role playing, relaxation training, assertiveness training and cognitive restructuring. The pseudo-social skills training group was a self-help group designed to encourage discussion of irritability problems without teaching specific coping techniques. To assure some degree of homogeneity in cognitive abilities among subjects, minimum eligibility scores were required on five subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - Revised and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. Dependent measures were pre and posttreatment scores obtained from five categories of the Katz Adjustment Scale - Relative form: belligerence, negativity, general psychopathology, social obstreperousness, and social role functioning. In addition, pre …