Does Venting Your Anger Can Help You To Manage It?
Anger is an uncomfortable feeling to experience. Yet, many individuals believe that expressing their anger is the best way to deal with it. Many people who have previously suffered from anger have been urged to let it all out. However, new evidence reveals that expressing anger may not be as beneficial as previously assumed.
This article explains what it means to vent anger and does venting your anger help in releasing negative emotions. It also looks at effective coping strategies and when to seek professional help so let’s start!
What Does It Mean to Vent Anger?
Anger is a perfectly natural human emotion. While it is usually manageable, it can build up over time until people feel they have reached their breaking point. People may get so enraged that they feel driven to strike out with screaming, self-harm, or other risky behaviors.
People who feel this type of anger may struggle to manage it. They are frequently encouraged to deal with their rage by letting off steam. This can take the shape of relatively harmless actions. Stomping your feet, pounding a pillow, hurling another soft object, or shouting in the shower are all examples.
While it may appear that focusing anger on something innocent may be beneficial, this may not be the best answer.
Does Venting Your Anger Help You to Manage It?
The notion that blowing off steam might aid anger management is not new. For many decades, mental health practitioners believed this form of venting was necessary for effective anger management. Catharsis is the term healthcare experts use to describe the discharge of powerful emotions.
A recent study, however, reveals that expressing anger in this manner does not dissolve it. Instead, expressing anger may exacerbate these sensations.
Even in its most benign forms, blowing off steam is ineffective at controlling your anger. Any type of venting has been linked to an increase in violent conduct later in life. This is because it teaches your body to use violence to cope with emotions.
Venting anger strengthens the brain circuits that are predisposed to anger. Therefore, people are more prone to respond and act out in the future if these routes are supported.
Effects of Venting Anger
Physically aggressive behavior in hazardous ways might have catastrophic effects. In rare circumstances, venting can become so intense that it causes bodily injury to oneself, others, or property. Even less harmful modes of expressing anger can have negative implications, such as:
- Interpersonal ties are strained.
- Stress and anxiety levels are higher.
- Issues at work, at home, or in social settings
- Negative feelings and moods have become more intense.
Sleep disturbances, muscular strain, headaches, and digestive disorders are all examples of physical concerns.
In addition to expressing rage in person, releasing emotions online has grown in popularity in recent years. People frequently write comments, blogs, or other online content to vent their frustrations and get their feelings out. But unfortunately, it appears that online emotional venting is just as unproductive as offline.
Mental Effect
Here are some of the major mental effects of venting your anger, reflecting the seriousness of the issue.
- Stress
- Fear
- Mood disorders
- Poor academic performance
- Social anxiety
- Compromised performance due to anger
Physical Effect
The physical effect of venting your anger are listed as follows:
- Panic attacks
- Insomnia
- Strains
- Digestive disorders
Example of A Venting Anger
When it comes to the example of venting anger, there are plenty of them. For instance, you can throw stuff as a means to vent anger. In severe cases of venting anger, you can start harming yourself, and extreme cases lead to self-harm and even suicide.
Considering these examples, it is no surprise that you need to know whether venting your anger is helpful or not! So, let’s find out some strategies to help you control your anger issues.
Effective Strategies To Cope-Up Your Anger
Let’s discuss some of the most basic approaches that can be used to treat anger. However, you must first identify and regulate the trigger that generates your anger. Here are some tried-and-true methods for dealing with anger.
1 – Take a short break
It is a necessary method for controlling your emotions and bodily activities. For example, if you feel overwhelmed by rage, take ten deep breaths and count to ten.
It simply takes five minutes of mindfulness to calm down and cleanse your mind. You also allow yourself time to reason and determine how to respond.
2 – Mindfulness meditation
Mindfulness meditation can assist you in being aware of emotions such as anger. If you practice the technique, you can acknowledge your frustration and move on rather than being consumed and overwhelmed by the feeling. Meditation has diminished aggression in beginner meditators after only one session.
Several fantastic meditation applications are available to help you stay attentive on the move, and once you’ve mastered the method, you may meditate anywhere, at any time.
3 – Start journaling
If you can’t help but feel the urge to rant, do it in writing. You’ll feel better when you’ve worked out your issues in this fashion, whether you scrawl your thoughts on a piece of paper or pound out an honest email. But, of course, you should not send your message under any circumstances.
4 – Physical exercise
Working out how to deal with rage is a difficult task. When something disturbs me, I know I feel better after a long walk but try not to select an exercise that allows you to channel your anger into something else.
Lifting weights at the gym is a terrific method to cope with anger, but make your session about a good objective, such as breaking a personal record, feeling powerful, or completing your sets.
Don’t imagine yourself injuring someone or using a punching bag to stand in for their face. This is nothing more than a physical expression of venting.
6 – Opt for anger management courses
A therapist may prescribe anger management courses in some circumstances. These workshops are designed to help people find methods to relax and better control their emotions. These can be offered in an educational class, in person, or online, but some are delivered in the form of group or individual therapy.
Rather than expressing their rage, people can learn ways to:
- Reframing the scenario might help them change their minds.
- Experiment with gradual muscular relaxation.
- Deep breathing should be used.
People acquire tactics to reduce emotions of anger, aggravation, and frustration over time, in addition to learning skills to cool down fast in the heat of the moment.
7 – Speak to a therapist
Consider speaking with a healthcare physician or a mental health expert if you have difficulty coping with feelings of rage or other intense emotions. A therapist can assess your symptoms and help you find strategies to cope with them.
Anger outbursts may indicate a mental health issue such as borderline personality disorder, bipolar illness, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or intermittent explosive disorder.
Your therapist may offer anger management treatment if you have difficulty managing your fury. Two possible solutions:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Assists individuals in changing their thoughts in reaction to anger.
- Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT): To increase your capacity to manage, dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) integrates parts of mindfulness and emotional control.
There are a variety of courses available, with information that can be completed in a 4-hour, 6-hour, 8-hour, or 26-hour course. You may choose the best option based on the severity of your anger symptoms and the level of support you require.
Conclusion
Therapists used to encourage individuals to pound a pillow, but now it’s time to know does venting your anger can help you manage your emotions.
We now know that this isn’t necessarily the greatest counsel; it’s an unsustainable approach with possibly harmful repercussions. For example, venting can exacerbate emotions of rage and have a destructive impact on mood. In rare situations, it can result in bodily harm or legal ramifications.
Finding healthy methods to deal with your anger will help you avoid the stress, frustration, and harm that extreme emotions can create. So, rather than expressing your anger, concentrate on finding helpful and healthy strategies to manage your feelings in the present.
Dr. Carlos Todd PhD LCMHC specializes in anger management, family conflict resolution, marital and premarital conflict resolution. His extensive knowledge in the field of anger management may enable you to use his tested methods to deal with your anger issues.
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