About to burst? How anger and annoyance can be driven away with a piece of paper and a pen and why being constantly angry is unhealthy.
Anger and anger are natural feelings that arise when our personal boundaries are crossed. Allowing them is important and a sensible reaction. What is important, however, is how we express our feelings. A violent outburst of anger, saying things that we later regret or that hurt others, is certainly not the way to go. A simple method from Japan, the so-called anger note, is better. In a recent study, researchers surprised themselves at how well it works.
Researchers had to make subjects really angry
The anger note method from psychologists at Nagoya University (Japan) is simple: feelings such as anger and anger are written on a piece of paper, which is then simply thrown away.
For their study, researchers Nobuyuki Kawai and Yuta Kanaya asked around a hundred students to write an essay on topics such as “Ban smoking in public”. There was then an evaluation, with all test subjects getting the same bad feedback with provocative statements like “I can’t believe an intelligent person could think something like that.” This made the participants really angry. They should then put their angry thoughts on paper and read through the notes for 30 seconds.
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They were then divided into two groups: one half of the participants was supposed to put the piece of paper in a box or folder, the other half was allowed to crumple up the paper and dispose of it in a trash can or shredder. The experts used questionnaires to record the participants' emotions immediately after the nasty evaluation and after putting away or throwing away the angry note. The results were clearer than expected.
Rage notes with astonishing effects
Initially, both groups were equally angry after the assessment. Writing down thoughts and feelings helped all participants, although the “throwaway group” almost lost their anger after disposing of the paper. The group that put the piece of paper in a folder, on the other hand, still felt more angry than before the experiment.
The experts' conclusion: "Disposing of the paper in the trash can make the anger disappear." The principle behind it: throw away or destroy an object charged with negative emotions and thus drive away the anger. How well the concept works surprised the researchers themselves. “We expected that our method would suppress anger to a certain extent,” says Nobuyuki Kawai in the journal
Scientific Reports
. “However, we were amazed that the anger was almost completely eliminated.”
Suppressing anger is bad for your health
Even though anger doesn't have a good image in our society, it's part of it and suppressing it can have a negative impact on mental health. Even in small children, the so-called “defiant phase” is an important building block in personality development. In adulthood, anger is often triggered by:
disrespect
Attack on personality
disappointment
harassment
Injury
Overwhelm
Anger is also a protective reaction. It helps you maintain your own boundaries, demand what you are entitled to from others and, in the best case scenario, ensures that the other person stops acting against you. Anger is part of a healthy psyche and regulates social relationships. On the other hand, those who constantly suppress their anger are more likely to develop depressive symptoms, as a study shows.
But that doesn't mean you should let your anger out. Violent outbursts of anger even increase the risk of a heart attack and stroke, research shows. In addition to methods such as the anger slip, running up and down the stairs, punching a punching bag or tensing the muscles firmly and then releasing them again can also help in an acute tantrum, explains Eva Möhler, director of the Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry , psychosomatics and psychotherapy in Homburg opposite the
Pharmazeutische Zeitung.
Some people would also react to cold stimuli or strong taste stimuli.
This article only contains general information on the respective health topic and is therefore not intended for self-diagnosis, treatment or medication. It in no way replaces a visit to the doctor. Our editorial team is not allowed to answer individual questions about medical conditions.