The Role of Anger in Traumatic Harm and Recovery for Sexual Violence Survivors

Sexual violence is a strong predictor of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Sexual violence survivors presenting for PTSD treatment may experience and express a range of distressing emotions. An extensive body of research guides clinical conceptualization and targeting of fear responses in PTSD treatment. Models to guide clinicians in working with posttraumatic anger, in contrast, are scarce. To address this gap, we: 1) provide a review of the theoretical and empirical literature on sexual violence, anger, and trauma recovery among sexual violence survivors; 2) integrate this literature with social functionalist theories of anger; and 3) discuss implications of this integration for adaptively leveraging anger in psychological treatment.