The Geico Cavemen Need Anger Management

carlos_todd says:
The Geico caveman needs anger management

Anyone who has seen the Geico insurance advertisement, featuring the now famous cavemen, will agree with me that they need anger management. These cavemen have never had an anger outburst; so the question may be: how could one say that they need anger management? The answer is related to the comprehensive scope of the Anderson and Anderson anger management model, which focuses not only on anger management, but also communications skills, emotional intelligence and stress management.

The Geico cavemen are ticking time bombs--any day they can explode on their employer, friends or family. They allow others to insult and take advantage of them and they never stand up for themselves. When an attempt is made to be assertive, only passive aggressive behavior is displayed. These actions will certainly never result in them getting their needs met. In this case, anger management should both be an intervention and a preventative response. The intervention is to ensure that the cavemen can learn to set boundaries, and the preventive action is necessary to reduce the possibility of an explosive outburst.

There is the need to broaden the understanding of anger management. Anger is a secondary emotion. Therefore, long before there is an outburst, there are signs of the potential of aggression. Poor stress management, poor communication skills and poor emotional intelligence form the foundation of poor anger management. The inappropriate expression of anger is “a very complex problem that is rooted in not being able to properly express unmet needs”, according to John Elder. Therefore psycho-educational interventions that address this core issue will be much more successful in teaching more long lasting anger management skills.

The Geico cavemen are fictional characters; however, the flagrant expression of passive-aggressive behavior is an appropriate example of poor anger management. In this case, an angry response would have been a natural way to let their employer know that their display of them was not appropriate. Nevertheless, these cave men never drew this line. If you find yourself always deferring your needs to others and never seeking to meet your own emotional needs, I encourage you to consider the comprehensive Anderson and Anderson anger management model; otherwise, implosive or explosive anger may soon follow. Both of these results of poor anger management can be destructive to your health and relationships with others. For an Anderson and Anderson provider in your area, visit www.anger-management- resources.org.

Carlos Todd, LPC, NCC, CAMF

Diplomate, American Association of Anger Management Providers

Carlos Todd is an Anderson and Anderson anger management provider in North Carolina.

www.angerhurts.com
www.angeronmymind.com
www.aaamp.org
www.andersonservices.com
www.anger-management-resources.org
Posted at 3:43pm, 6 April 2007 PDT ( permalink )