researchers say you can calm your anger by tearing up a sheet of paper

They have tested ancestral practices of purifying the mind and claim that shredding a sheet of paper, on which one has quickly written down one’s various resentments, helps reduce one’s exasperation.

Researchers from Nagoya University have just published the conclusions of their study in mid-April in the specialized journal Scientific Reports. They are specialists in psychology and cognitive sciences. IThey were interested in very old Japanese practices dating back to the 16th century. IThey particularly wanted to understand the rites that were practiced at the time in a sanctuary in Aichi prefecture, near Nagoya. In this shrine, which is called Hiyoshi jinja, the lords of the region organized a big festival every year where the population was invited to get rid of all their resentments from the year. These latter used a sort of plate on which they wrote down the reasons for their anger. And, after a few prayers, they destroyed this plate to, as it were, purify their minds.

Researchers from Nagoya University tried to understand whether this rite was really effective. IThey mobilized dozens of students to try to reproduce this practice and measure directly the evolution of the anxiety rate of their guinea pigs. The teachers first asked their students to write a short essay on social issues, such as, for example, smoking in public, in the street, which is not done in Japan. Then a teacher picked up the papers and graded them very harshly. He wrote some pretty harsh comments, like: “I don’t understand how an educated person could write this kind of thing.”. The copies were redistributed to the students and they were all given two minutes to read the unpleasant comments that had been added. Then, the researchers asked them to explain on a sheet of paper how they felt when reading their corrected copies.

A calming effect on the brain

At the end of the experiment, half of the students were invited to crumple up the sheet where they had transcribed their feelings and emotions and throw it in the trash. The other half, however, had to keep this sheet on their desk. As a result, the level of anger between these two groups is different. Lhe teachers gave very precise questionnaires to be able to measure their level of anger throughout the experience. And the group who threw their paper in the trash found, at the end of the test, approximately the same level of anxiety that they had at the beginning of the experiment. On the other hand, the group who had to keep the sheet with emotions on their desk saw their level of anger remain very high at the end of the experiment. The researchers concluded that formalizing one’s resentment on a piece of paper and then destroying this paper had a calming effect on the brain. As if we had somehow dealt with the problem.