Efficacy of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Behaviour Therapy in Managing Anger among Students in Public Secondary Schools in Nakuru County, Kenya

Jared Menecha, Ph.D; Alice Munene, Psy.D., and Kennedy Ongaro, PhD., Daystar University, Kenya

Abstract

Anger is a disruptive emotion, a strong feeling of distress in response to a specific provocation and one of the most challenging emotions encountered in psychotherapy. Despite the fact that a number of interventions have been put in place to help especially secondary school students to cope with anger, the problem of anger still looms in our academic institutions. This study aimed at establishing the efficacy of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (MBCBT) in managing anger among 100 students (50 boys and 50 girls) in public secondary schools. The students were assigned to either an experimental group or a control group. Those in experimental group were exposed to an MBCBT intervention for a period of 10 weeks while those in the control group received no treatment for the same period. The findings of this study showed that MBCBT had a great impact in the reduction of anger, depressive, and anxiety symptoms. It also confirmed that MBCBT is a superior intervention for extreme anger.

Keywords: Efficacy, mindfulness based cognitive behavioral therapy, anger, anxiety, Depression