[anjc]

> Expressed anger/emotion is okay

No it's not

> bottled up anger/emotion is not good

Yes it is

It is tautologically obvious why expressing anger does not result in reduced anger in the long term, and why practicing subduing your anger is beneficial. Cathartic expression of anger is a long-debunked approach to coping with it.

[criddell]

> It is tautologically obvious why expressing anger does not result in reduced anger in the long term, and why practicing subduing your anger is beneficial.

It isn't obvious at all to me and doesn't match my experience.

[anjc]

On reflection, it depends on what was meant by 'express' in the previous post; if an expression is a constructive discussion then that may be good. If an expression is smashing things or shouting, that isn't good.

Aggressive expressions don't work long term because they reinforce the behaviour of outwardly and rapidly being angry.

[naasking]

Maybe you have some kind of healthy expression of anger, but multiple studies have shown that venting anger physically or verbally just exacerbates it, because it causes you to ruminate on the causes of the anger, which just feeds back into it [1]. Focusing on something else, like a logic puzzle, can diffuse it.

[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027273582...

[criddell]

I thought we were talking about long term, not short term.

I agree, in the short term anger can have negative consequences. But longer term, as you ruminate on the causes of anger, you can be more objective and see that the reaction may have been an overreaction and unproductive. You might even have regret (I've certainly felt regret).

If I always subdued my anger, I'd probably end up like the dog in the this is fine meme (and I'm not an angry person!).