Writing Down and Throwing Away Your Anger May Help Reduce It, According to New Study
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Summary
A new study suggests that writing down your anger and then throwing the paper away can significantly reduce anger levels. Researchers believe the act of throwing away the paper with your written anger on it symbolically throws away the anger itself.
The study involved participants writing about a social problem and then receiving negative feedback designed to make them angry. They were then asked to write about their anger and either throw the paper away, shred it, or put it in a folder. Throwing the paper away and shredding it resulted in a significant reduction in anger compared to putting the paper in a folder.
The researchers believe this technique may work because we associate objects with our feelings and destroying the object feels like destroying the feeling itself. They acknowledge that this technique may not work for very serious anger issues.
Link to the study
