We are all familiar with the idea that expressing your stress and anger in any way that you can is always a good thing to do and is beneficial to us in the long run it is for the most part, but not when it reinforces something bad, opposite to what it is suppose to be doing. The scientific term for this is referred to as catharis which means coming up with different techniques and problem solving strategies to fix the problem. The popular norm for psychologists are to tell their clients to get things off their chest or express themselves in any way they feel possible, but little do they know that they are causing them more harm than good. The problem with catharis arises when our anger is voiced out to something we cannot change or choose not to change because we feel that the situation is helpless or nothing can be changed about it. Researchers have shown that engaging in activities like these does not reduce the long term stress, but only brings a temporary feeling of contentment until it returns again. Sometimes they can even evoke more of a feeling of anxiety or anger that we acquired to begin with because it turns into a vicious cycle because when we are distressed about a particular event or thing when become more distressed because of the mere fact that we were distressed to begin with.
