Is it Healthy to Suppress Anger?
Silence of the Lambs, Short, Field of Dreams, Basic Instinct, Terms of Endearment, Dances with the Wolves, go to the movies and you will witness firsthand the power of human emotion. In darkened theaters all over the world, audiences laugh at lines that tickle the funny bone, cry in sorrow, gasp in fear, scream in anger and tingle with sexual delight.Cheers, tears, sweaty palms, tense musles or a pounding heart are a vital part of the entertainment experience. And it is healthy to watch movies that entertain you.
But what about anger? Is it healthy to suppress it or let it flow? If you suppress it, will it manifest in other unguarded situations? If you let it flow, will it be effective enough not to hurt yourself or hurt anyone or worst, lose your job?
What happens to our body when we get angry? An investigation lead by scientists from the University of Valencia analyzed changes in the brain’s cardiovascular, hormonal and asymmetric activation response when we get angry. The study revealed that when we get angry, the heart rate, arterial tension and testosterone production increases, cortisol, the stress hormone decreases, and the left hemisphere of the brain becomes more stimulated. The results, published in the journal Hormones and Behavior, reveal that anger provokes profound changes in the state of mind of the subjects “they felt angered and had a more negative state of mind” and in different psychobiological parameters. There is an increase in heart rate, arterial tension and testosterone, but the cortisol level decreases.
On the contrary, psychologists from Boston College, Maya Tamir and Christopher and James Gross of Stanford University tested whether people prefer to experience emotions that are potentially useful, even when they are unpleasant to experience, such as anger. Some participants preferred activities that were likely to make them angry like listening to anger-inducing music, recalling past events in which they were angry, when they expected to perform confrontational tasks, like defending a project or engaging in a debate. On the other hand, some participants preferred more pleasant activities when they expected to perform a non-confrontational task. The researchers found that angry participants performed better than others in the confrontational game by successfully killing more enemies while angry participants did not perform better than others in the non-confrontational game, which involved serving customers. “Such findings,demonstrate that what people prefer to feel at any given moment may depend, in part, on what they might get out of it.”
If you notice, the physiologic changes brought about by anger are also bodily changes brought about by excitement with the exception of the cortisol hormone. Suppression of anger on the other hand will also generate the same effects and it may double itself since it is a form of stress that is not released or processed and so remains in the body. When such stress accumulates, like a volcano, it explodes and molten lava flows and it would be difficult to retract hurtful words uttered or apologize for an unprofessional display of emotions.
It is healthy to release anger in other forms. You can break a glass, break a pencil, take a walk in the park, punch a punching bag, anything to release that pent-up anger. Anger that accumulates mean tension that increases. And any tension produces stress that will later on manifest through illness.
Photo by darkpatator
