Is resentment bad for your health?

Who most and who least has felt mistreated on some occasion. Who most and who least has felt resentment. A friend may have played a trick on you or is criticizing you behind your back. You may have needed someone and they have placed you at the bottom of their priority scale.

Perhaps it was your teacher who did not recognize your effort, your parents who did not see the difficulties of surviving in today’s world, or your partner who fell in love with someone else. We have all been somewhere similar to these at some point.

Emotions and health

It would be good if negative emotions were accompanied by messages of warning, that educational programs would dedicate some of their sections to teaching how to regulate them. We are talking about a dangerous material. And there is irrefutable evidence that poorly managed negative emotions can be the greatest danger our health faces.

For example, Depression is associated with measurable changes in immune functioning. People with major depression are at higher risk of having a heart attack than people with no history of depression. On the other hand, In women, depression appears to increase the risk of osteoporosis. In men, depression predicts a decrease in muscle strength after a period of three years.

Anxiety also appears to be associated with the development of heart problems. In addition, it seems to delay recovery after surgery. On the other hand, it is perfectly documented that Chronic hostility can be a risk factor for heart disease and even death. The best-known example is the Type A behavior pattern.

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What do we understand by resentment?

Resentment is a feeling that best represents the emotional state of many people. It stands out, like all emotional states, for generating behaviors that tend to keep the person in that state. On the other hand, it is usually accompanied by a certain degree of obstinacy or blindness that makes it very resistant to the measures we try to take to get rid of it.

Thus, resentment speaks of a hurt person. Whether because of being treated unfairly, having had his expectations frustrated, or her trust betrayed, the person may experience anger and resentment. That is, it is a feeling of rejection towards the person who caused the discomfort.

On the other hand, if we express it as a tendency, we could say that a resentful person is one who It is difficult for you to forget your differences after an argument as a couple or with a friend or you need a lot of time to assimilate what has happened, forgive and forget.

How does resentment influence health?

To analyze this issue, Witvliet et al. (2002) studied the emotional and physiological consequences of acting out of resentment. They did this through an experiment. College students were asked to choose true interpersonal offenses. They must have experienced them in the past. Most of these offenses came from friends, boyfriends, brothers or parents.

Those offenses included circumstances such as rejection, lie or insult. The researchers then collected self-report and psychophysiological data. Those data included heart rate, blood pressure and facial muscle tension.

Data and self-reports were collected while students were They imagined a response to those offenses, whether lenient or resentful.. In the lenient condition, students had to think about feelings of mercy or empathy toward those who had offended them. In the grudge condition, they were asked to remain in the role of victim. They were asked to focus on the damage and try to be spiteful.

The way we think influences our health

Is it possible that both ways of thinking about the same issue could modify the mood and physiological states of the study participants? The answer is yes. When asked to be forgiving, participants had more feelings of empathy and leniency. However, when they were asked to be spiteful and resentful, they reported more negative, hostile, sad, and loss of control feelings.

There was also observed a greater tension in the eyebrows, increased heart rate, blood pressure and electrical conductivity of the skin. Let’s think that the increase in conductivity in the skin indicates greater activation of the autonomic nervous system, the one that prepares us to take action when we perceive a threat.

Even more surprising was another finding. And after finishing the experiment, they were asked to relax. Well then, Subjects who had imagined feelings of resentment were unable to relax. The state of high physiological activation they had reached when imagining past offenses It was very difficult to remove. That is, they were upset or anxious for a long time afterwards.

Resentment: a dangerous attitude

What implications do the results of this study have? Briefly experiencing feelings of hostility, probably is not enough to harm our health. However, People with a tendency to ruminate indefinitely about offenses are insisting on a very dangerous habit for themselves. Fueling anger, with the consequent physiological reactions, can have negative consequences for the functioning of the cardiovascular and immune systems.

This is why fostering resentment can be dangerous for our health. Although it is not always easy, forgiving those who offend us can reduce our stress and increase our well-being. We could compare the effects of resentment to carrying a weight, a weight that It even affects our physical health, since it can make us sick. For this reason, out of pure selfishness and emotional health, it is advisable to prioritize well-being, consciously deciding not to continue nursing resentment for what happened.

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