Feeling furious? Write it down and throw away the paper, a Japanese way of ‘eliminating’ anger

On days when you feel like punching someone, try grabbing a pen and paper instead. A new research shows that writing down all that wrath on a piece of paper and throwing it away, not only helps in reducing anger but can also eliminate it completely.

A study conducted at Nagoya University in Japan found that shredding the paper with words describing your frustration might be a good way to calm oneself down instantly. This is preferably a better option in a workplace setting, where expressing furious thoughts openly can have dire consequences.

Also Read |Doctors in China successfully transplant pig kidney into brain-dead human patient

Add WION as a Preferred Source

What researchers found from the study was something that even they didn’t expect. They found that this method not only suppressed the furious emotion but also eliminated the anger “almost completely,” said lead researcher Nobuyuki Kawai.

Kawai is a doctoral student at Nagoya University, who conducted the study along with another doctoral student Yuta Kanaya. Both asked the participants to write brief opinions on social problems like smoking in public.

Upon completing the assignment, they told the participants their responses would now be checked by a doctoral student at Nagoya University. Instead, there was no such “doctoral student” to evaluate the responses and all participants were sent the same feedback of poor intelligence and lack of logic and rationality.

Watch |Rudest workplace behaviour: Beware of the dreaded "hey" in digital chats

Each participant was given the same insulting remark: "I cannot believe an educated person would think like this. I hope this person learns something while at the university."

Afterwards, the participants were asked to write their thoughts on the feedback, focussing on what triggered their emotions.

They were then split into two groups. The first group was told to either throw away the paper they wrote in the garbage or keep it in a file on their desk. A second group was told to destroy the document in a shredder or put it in a plastic box.

Also Read |Aliens have likely travelled to Earth via 'curled dimensions', claims Harvard professor

The participants were then asked to rate their anger after disposing or keeping the paper.

The majority of the participants reported a higher level of anger after receiving insulting comments. However, individuals who discarded the paper in a trash can or shredded it returned to their initial state after throwing away the paper.

Meanwhile, the participants who held on to a hard copy of the insult experienced only a small decrease in their overall anger.

Also Read |People using cannabis vapes in UK at risk from 'zombie' drug, warn experts

"This technique could be applied at the moment by writing down the source of anger as if taking a memo and then throwing it away when one feels angry in a business situation," explained Kawai.

This method of anger management is somewhat similar to the Japanese cultural tradition of hakidashisara, an annual festival at Hiyoshi shrine near Nagoya where people smash small discs representing things that make them angry. Many anecdotes reported people feeling relieved after their participation in the festival.

(With inputs from agencies)