Writing down your thoughts may ease anger , – but the notes may be thrown aside afterwards.
A study in Japan purposefully irritated volunteers by requiring them to create negative comments about interpersonal issues, but those who were instructed to put their writings in the trash appeared to have a quick calming effect as their rage levels, on a level of one to six, immediately dropped to where they were before the experiment.
On the other hand, those who kept their notes remained enraged.
Nobuyuki Kawai, head author of the study at Nagoya University, said:” We expected that our technique had control anger. Nonetheless, we were amazed that fury was eliminated nearly completely”.
The study just featured 50 members but Kawai is convinced that the method , – inspired by the Chinese tradition known as hakidashisara , – may help people who find themselves in difficult conditions at work.
He added that” this method could be used in the present by writing down the origin of anger, as if you were to take a memo and then throw it away.”