The phrase ‘għax niġi u nifqak!’(I will come to beat you up) made the headlines a few months ago when it was uttered in Parliament. However, the said phrase may be pronounced much more often in our society without it being reported.
“The Maltese might be seen as being more tolerant of anger than other communities,” says forensic psychologist Kevin Sammut Henwood. “Even our language tends to be aggressive and we come up with so many excuses for such behaviour, like the excessive heat and traffic.”
He compares the Maltese to the English, with whom we have a shared history.
“For example, the sentences in the case of crimes of passion in Malta are mitigated in contrast to the English and Welsh system where the crime of passion does not exist. One might also identify a certain leniency in how certain violent crimes are disposed of in Maltese courts, which is again different from the English system where violent offences are punished severely.”
Sammut Henwood will be discussing anger, aggression and their manifestation in violence in a Ngħidu Kelma workshop on Monday at Ir-Razzett l-Antik in Qormi.
The three-hour workshop will first define the terms anger, aggression and violence.
“They don’t mean the same, even as regards their management, although there are similarities,” he explains.
“Anger is an emotion that has a cognitive aspect: someone or something has caused me to be angry. There’s an element of motivation: ‘I feel I have to do something to overcome it’. Anger is not necessarily bad in itself because it could be a driving force, for example, to make a greater effort at work to get a promotion or study harder to pass an exam I failed. However, there’s a more negative option: anger can become a destructive force.”
Aggressiveness, on the other hand, does not always result as a consequence of anger.
“I can be aggressive without being angry,” points out Sammut Henwood as he gives the example of a child pushing another child riding a tricycle to be able to ride it himself.
Also, violence is not necessarily fuelled by aggression, as in the case of a robbery.
“I can threaten you with a weapon with the intention of stealing your purse or mobile phone.”
The workshop will delve into various theories of aggression, including the general aggression model, which provides a comprehensive and integrative social-cognitive framework for understanding aggression and violence.
“It’s an all-encompassing model which takes into consideration genetic factors and one’s upbringing.”
Sammut Henwood gives another example, that of a football fan whose team loses an important match.
“This fact may trigger a certain switch which activates the nervous system and emotions andprepares one to fight.
“If violence is seen as a legitimate way to get what you want when you want it, it becomes natural to use violence.”
Sammut Henwood embraces this model. From his studies and experience, he claims that one may grow up with the potential to be violent, but it is one’s environment – the upbringing – that has a direct impact on one’s aggressiveness. He also says that, unfortunately, aggression manifests itself in a vicious cycle.
“Aggressive people tend to have aggressive children, who in turn become aggressive adults and so on.”
The workshop will also present two real case studies, in which participants will be asked to answer a number of questions, to be then discussed with the group.
Afterwards, Sammut Henwood will tackle issues related to best practice in the assessment and treatment of aggressive clients.
He will also cover ‘de-escalation techniques’, which help one realise when a person who has problems controlling his behaviour and emotions is about to lose his temper and thus learn how to calm him or her down.
“The overall aim is to get some practical information out of this workshop, not just learn about theories,” Sammut Henwood says.
Ngħidu Kelma is a long-standing series of workshops aimed at professionals and students from a variety of fields that discuss various current issues from different perspectives. These workshops are organised by Willingness Malta, which is made up of a multidisciplinary team of professionals offering diverse services related to family, sex and health.
• Għax nigi u nifqak – Working with Violence is being held at Ir-Razzett l-Antik, Qormi, on Monday at 6pm. To register for the workshop, download the application form available at www.facebook.com/ events/1569744426657854/, fill it in and send together with payment (details on same page) to Willingness Clinic, Mikiel Anġ Sapiano Street, Żebbuġ. For more information, contact Nicola Falzon on 7945 9673 or send an e-mail to falzonnicola@gmail.com.