Anti-aggressiveness training

As anger management , and anti-aggression training or anti-violence training , referred to the theoretical, practical and physical from a larger group exercises will put together a training program, and the prevention of aggressive behavior in everyday life and their degradation is . The oldest course AAT is standardized and validated today, but there are numerous other, non-standardized courses that are put together by psychologists, pedagogues or social psychologists for different needs and adapted to the respective clientele and their requirements.

Aim and purpose

Every anti-aggressiveness training serves the purpose of preventing aggressive behavior or reducing it so that it occurs less or no longer in everyday life. To this end, cognitive and emotional components are observed and analyzed. In addition, the participants are confronted with aggressive behavior, both their own and that of others. They should learn to refrain from using violence themselves, even if they have the physical strength, or to avoid violence when it comes across them. Use of force is presented as weakness. Whoever hits is not strong enough to make better use of conflict resolution options.

During the training units, situations are created (simulated) in a controlled manner in which aggressive behavior patterns occur. By training in non-aggressive alternative behaviors, participants learn how to behave better.

Background and areas of application

The techniques described below are largely adapted from US facilities and concepts, which were further developed and specified in Germany. Are known in the art u. a. the 'Glen Mills Schools', whose framework concept is 'GGI', or Group Guided Interaction , and includes methods such as the “hot seat”. In 1987 the educational scientist and criminologist Jens Weidner began his "antagonist training" - later (1989) "AAT" - with adolescents in the Hameln juvenile detention center , knowing the USA concepts . It can be used in other settings, such as B. in supervised youth homes to avoid custody, in (curative educational) children's homes, but also on an outpatient basis. School-related youth social work also offers this type of anger management as a secondary prevention of violence, often only with selected exercises.

Course type and schedule

If the original AAT course according to Weidner is carried out, it can be learned by the course instructors in a further training measure and used later. Then it can be built up modularly, but consists of a relatively fixed sequence of exercises.

A precise analysis of the clientele's requirements is part of the planning of freely configurable training measures. He also makes some personal demands on the course instructor and the environment in which the course takes place. For the standardized courses, additional training to become an anti-violence trainer is possible, which pedagogues or psychologists can acquire. On the part of the implementer, there must also be a willingness to simulate conflicts, which the young people are familiar with, but must be learned by outsiders.

The schedule and the sequence of exercises depend on the respective course type. Usually the training is set in the medium or long term, i. H. the exercises are performed on one or two occasions per week of at least two hours for many months or a year. It is a real workout that repeats the exercises to create the desired long-term learning effect. In particular, the transfer of the trained behavior to real, everyday situations can only be sufficiently brought about by a longer measure. Mere explanations or conversations are not seen as promising and are only part of the concept.

indication

Participation in one of these courses can be voluntary. In prisons, this is sometimes associated with incentives or benefits, or participation has a positive effect on the further process. The measure can also be discussed with the responsible youth welfare office or ordered by a court. Interested parties with mental illnesses, significantly reduced intelligence or participants before they deal with a dependency problem are often not admitted . The training is generally not suitable for offenders who are prone to psychological violence or sexual violence (sex offenders), as the exercises are not geared towards this. You must also have sufficient knowledge of the German language.

The participants are selected in advance of the training measure. A detailed interview is carried out, which can result, for example, from a help plan discussion.

Priority setting

Similar to sports training, there is a large variety of exercises available, from which the course is mainly composed. Often the participants are (prepared) confronted with aggressive behavior, justification and neutralization strategies should be made visible and dismantled, the victim's point of view is conveyed. The necessity of violence is questioned and mediation and de-escalation strategies are learned. There are many practical exercises that can be combined or used individually.

Organizational requirements

Because these are practical training measures, suitable rooms are required that are also available in the long term. Separate rooms are often used in prisons. In general, a sports hall is cheap. Required material can be taken from the sports pedagogical area; a blackboard or a projector is used for theoretical exercise parts.

In prisons, the participation is often supervised by employees or social pedagogues, in the curative education area there is often close cooperation with the living group supervisors (individual advice). Working together enables better results and helps address the needs of each participant.

Basic rules

Violence and aggression are human behaviors that are noticed. However, they are not accepted, but should be cultivated through rules and norms. At the beginning of the training, some general rules are often drawn up, which can be posted or written down on a board. Rule violations are often taken as a sign that the participants are not ready to perform the exercise in question. The basic rules state:

• No mutual injuries .
• Just simulate, don't be serious : If an exercise suddenly turns serious, the leader cancels it. The situation is shifted back to a theoretical level.
• No exclusion : Nobody is allowed to exclude another; The weak and the strong belong together in the group - they cannot lose this position.
• Do not sweep anything under the carpet : if conflicts arise, the participants are confronted with them immediately. It is never canceled or the conflict is concealed.

Exercises and segments

Many, but not all, of the exercises follow the principle of confrontation. The participants are confronted with violence or provocative situations and should learn to endure these situations without becoming violent themselves.

Provocation hierarchy

A provocation hierarchy is often worked out in discussions and during the exercises. The participants indicate which situations are easier or more difficult for them to cope with non-violently or to what extent they can remain calm and when. The line between serenity and aggressive behavior should be gradually raised in this hierarchy. The exercises serve this purpose.

Cooperative exercises

In the so-called cooperative exercises , tasks are set which, of course, can only be solved together. The focus here is not necessarily on violence, but on a neutral task. If this is solved together, the participants gain trust in the other. Examples are common climbing , skill requiring craft activities such as joint sawing with a handsaw and experiential learning activities like paddle boat DUTY or excursions.

Physical exercises

This includes fighting according to rules. Elements from judo or wrestling are often used. The exercises serve to raise awareness of the issue of violence. It does not depend on the training of athletic skills. It demonstrates that showing strength, measuring yourself and “working out” can be fun if this is done according to rules and standards. These games are usually played on mats in the gym.

Role exercises

These take up a lot of space and should be actively pursued by the participants. One of the participants takes on the role of the perpetrator, the other the role of victim. Both should reflect their sensitivities. By swapping roles, it is made clear to both that the role of the perpetrator and the victim are two sides of the same problem. The perception of the other is sensitized. Both perpetrators and victims can influence the course of the situation. The frustration tolerance can be increased. In role play, there are often lighter but also more serious confrontations.

Hot chair

This is a confrontation technique in which participants have to deal with their behavior in terms of content and emotions. You sit here on a hot chair in front of or in the middle of the group and face the discussion and the verbal “cross fire”. This method is based on the theory that a person's ability to absorb information is limited to approximately seven to nine pieces of information at the same time. Anything that goes beyond this leads to a “tearing off” of the client's existing communication or rhetoric concepts and thus enables communication beyond protective mechanisms in the context of the crime. The talks should go into detail and be confrontational. At the end of the conversation, there is a positive ending without acute open questions, as these would otherwise be carried out of the conversation.

Exercises on the victim's perspective

The participants have to deal intensively with the feelings of victims. First aid courses, lectures by doctors or the victim letter can also be used for this purpose.

Relaxation exercises

These serve to improve body awareness and can contain elements of autogenic training or progressive muscle relaxation .

criticism

Violation of human dignity

Rzepka (2005) criticizes the fact that the anti-aggressiveness training is not only intended to encourage participants not to violate any laws in the future, but rather that a change in their personality is sought. So z. B. von Heilemann (2001), a proponent of anti-aggressiveness training, said that training should make a person “more capable of reaching a consensus, socially acceptable or even socially useful”. However, state violence should not be aimed at "breaking" the identity of the individual by changing convictions and attitudes ". This collides with the first article of the Basic Law, according to which human dignity is inviolable. This includes u. a. “The preservation of human identity”, which should not be broken in prison either. Rzepka criticizes that this is not taken into account in the anti-aggressiveness training programs, but rather that it is acted on.

According to Plewigs (2010), the anti-aggressiveness training violates the child's right to a non-violent upbringing as set out in Section 1631 II BGB, sentence 1 and the prohibition of corporal punishment, psychological injuries and degrading measures stated in sentence 2. In particular, the hot chair as a training tool , borrowed from the psychotherapy context , the associated demonstration within the group and the “borderline” communication between the trainers are seen by him as degrading measures within the meaning of § 1631 II BGB.

literature

• R. Kilb, J. Weidner, O. Jehn: Violence under control . Volume 3, Beltz, Weinheim / Basel 2003.
• H.-J. Plewig: Confrontational Pedagogy. In: B. Dollinger, H. Schmidt-Semisch (eds.): Handbook of juvenile crime - criminology and social pedagogy in dialogue. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2010, pp. 427–439.
• D. Rzepka: Anti-Aggressiveness Training - Notes from a constitutional and criminological point of view. In: Disabled Education. Volume 44, issue 4/2005, p. 373.
• J. Weidner: Anti-aggressiveness training for violent criminals. 3. Edition. Forum Bonn / Bad-Godesberg 1995.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Quantitative and qualitative evaluation: anti-aggressiveness and coolness training (AAT / CT) to reduce the propensity to violence
2. ^ The Glen Mills Schools, Pennsylvania, USA. A model between school, child and youth welfare and justice? An expertise ( memento of August 12, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) at the German Youth Institute (DJI), therein bibliography on p. 215, ( Manfred Günther zu Glen Mills 1981), accessed on July 1, 2010 (PDF; 1.1 MB )
3. ↑ M. Heilemann: Victim-oriented prison system. About a new understanding of professionalism in dealing with violence. In: J. Weidner, R. Kilb, D. Kreft (Eds.): Violence under control. Volume 1: New Forms of Anti-Aggression Training. Weinheim / Basel 2001, p. 57.
4. ↑ D. Rzepka: Anti-Aggressiveness Training - Notes from a constitutional and criminological point of view. In: Disabled Education. Volume 44, issue 4/2005, p. 377 ff.
5. ↑ H.-J. Plewig: Confrontational Pedagogy. In: B. Dollinger, H. Schmidt-Semisch (eds.): Handbook of juvenile crime - criminology and social pedagogy in dialogue. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2010, p. 437.