Letting Off Steam - Venting At Work Doesn’t Always Work
Early in my career, I spent a lot of time venting. I’d get worked up over something my boss, client, or colleague did. I feared confronting would only make it worse, but I also worried that holding it in would eventually me to explode later on. So instead, I’d blow off a little steam by venting to a trusted co-worker or friend. If I could just release a little pressure, I’d get over it and move on, right? Maybe not. New evidence shows that venting doesn’t make things better, and it can even make things worse.
According to University of Arkansas psychologist Jeffrey M. Lohr, research has consistently shown that venting anger is at best ineffective and in some cases is even harmful. Lohr and his colleagues reviewed the research on anger expression going back as far as the 1950’s to identify the efficacy of venting as an anger management strategy.
“In study after study, the conclusion was the same: Expressing anger does not reduce aggressive tendencies and likely makes it worse,” Lohr and colleagues wrote in “The Pseudopsychology of Venting in the Treatment of Anger: Implications and Alternatives for Mental Health Practice,” which appeared as a chapter in Anger, Aggression, and Interventions for Interpersonal Violence, edited by Timothy A. Cavell and Kenya T. Malcolm of the University of Arkansas.
Aristotle advocated catharsis or emotional release from negative feelings and Sigmund Freud theorized that repressed emotions could build up and cause psychological symptoms. Lohr notes that some companies “now have anger web pages and ‘rap sessions’ that allow employees to vent anger and blow off steam.” However, the notion of catharsis has not held up under scientific examination.
“Research has shown that people often vent because they expect it will improve their mood…Perhaps because venting temporarily decreases arousal, [Read more →]
