Controlling anger is important in our daily life. Anger has a destructive effect on our relationships and our own well-being.
Japanese researchers have developed a simple and effective method to regain calm when anger overwhelms us. It only requires paper, a pen and a trash can. Or a document shredder if you prefer to be more forceful.
A team of Japanese researchers proposes a method that is as simple as it is surprising to reduce outbursts of anger, that explosive feeling of indignation or rejection that causes anger, is usually accompanied by an aggressive attitude and triggers an intense emotional ‘tsunami’ that destroys calm and it clouds people’s minds, including the angry individual.
The group of researchers from the Japanese University of Nagoya has discovered that a method, such as writing our reaction to a negative incident, such as being insulted, on a piece of paper, and then shredding it or throwing it away reduces feelings of anger.
Nobuyuki Kawai, one of the researchers, explains that learning to control anger at home and in the workplace can reduce negative consequences in our personal and work lives, and this method of controlling anger can be easy to remember and apply.
For their research, Kawai and his graduate student Yuta Kanaya asked study participants to write opinions about social issues, such as whether smoking in public should be banned.
Regardless of their opinions, the evaluators gave them low scores on intelligence, interest, friendliness, logic, and rationality and made the same insulting comment:
I can’t believe an educated person can think like that. I hope this person learns something while in college.”
Write to end anger
After passing out these negative comments, participants were asked to write down their thoughts about this triggering event and the emotions it triggered in them.
Finally, some participants were asked to throw the document they had written in the trash or keep it in a file on their desk, and others were asked to destroy the document in a shredder or place it in a plastic box.
It was found that the anger levels of those who threw their written sheet in the trash or shredded it disappeared after getting rid of the sheet, returning to their initial emotional state.
In contrast, those who kept a copy of their writing only experienced a small decrease in their overall anger.
“This technique could be applied instantly by a person, for example a businessman who is in a business situation. stressfulwriting down the source of his anger as if he were taking a note and then throwing it in the trash,” says Kawai
The prelude to anger
Pilar Guerra Escudero, clinical psychologist and executive advisor, points out that human beings sometimes believe that they cannot choose, and that irascible reactions are impossible to manage because they come out too automatically.
But this is not so. It is the individual themselves who decides to manage their emotions or not,” explains the psychologist.
Guerra recommends, as a preventive measure against outbursts of anger, putting ourselves in “reflective mode” and reviewing some of our behaviors or thoughts. irritability and frustrationwhich can be considered the prelude to anger episodes.
It explains that irritability comes as a consequence of having felt bad and this emotion in turn is a consequence of a type of thought that we have had in a situation.
“Attending to our thoughts is giving ourselves an opportunity to review the interpretations we give to events and be able to redirect them”recommends.
It also suggests reviewing our needs, desires, and expectations daily to manage frustration.
The more needs created, the more desire to achieve them, and the more expectations placed on the certainty that events will occur as we wish, so ‘the bigger the fall’ will be when we see that the story we had told ourselves does not happen.” , he points out.
He also advises being careful with perfectionism “which provides the fuel for us to spend much of the day angry.”
“Perfectionistic people have a high level of demand for themselves and for others. Wanting everything to be impeccable is a distortion.” that prevents them from being relaxed and in good humor,” according to Guerra.
On the other hand, when a person has an extreme level of dependence on another, to the point that they make their life revolve around them, they usually incur hypervigilance of the lives of others, which increases the possibilities of anger, disagreements and irritability, according to this psychologist.
This dependent and hypervigilant person tends to reproach everything they don’t like about others, and to get angry about it, he points out.
What does it mean to break objects?
Regarding the research at Nagoya University, Guerra explains that “in some cultures, such as the Japanese, the practice of break objects as dishes in specific festivals or rituals has deep cultural and psychological meaning.”
Breaking objects can be a symbolic way to release anger, stress and repressed emotions, allowing for a healthy emotional catharsis,” he points out.
It indicates that breaking objects can also represent breaking negative patterns, releasing obstacles, and finding a new beginning.
“By taking control of the destruction of an object, people can feel a sense of control over their emotions and over their own lives,” he concludes.
(With information from EFE)
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