A recent study published in theJournal of Personality and Social Psychologyand reported byEmotion Researchersurveyed nearly 1,300 American adults to better understand the relationship between accepting our emotions and mental health.

(Photo: ABC)

Iris Mauss, a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and principal investigator in the study explained: "We found that people who habitually accept their negative emotions experience fewer negative emotions, which adds up to better psychological health."

While it's difficult to say exactly why that is, she think that when we accept negative emotions, we normalize them and give them less attention. According to Mauss, "if youre constantly judging your emotions, the negativity can pile up."

Those who resist their emotions or judge them are more likely to experience mood swings than those who accept feelings of sadness, disappointment and bitterness.

As Brett Ford, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, explains in an article available on the UC Berkeley site, "People who accept these emotions without judging or trying to change them are able to cope with their stress more successfully."

Three different tests were conducted on diverse groups of people, both in the lab and online, taking into account their age, gender, socio-economic status and other demographic variables.

"Its easier to have an accepting attitude if you lead a pampered life, which is why we ruled out socio-economic status and major life stressors that could bias the results," Mauss said.

In the first study, approximately 1,000 participants were given a questionnaire in which they had to rate how strongly they agreed with the following statement: "I tell myself I shouldnt be feeling the way that Im feeling." In general, those who did not feel bad about their feelings had higher levels of well-being.

In the second study, 150 people participated in a simulated job interview in which they had to describe their strengths and talents by giving a three-minute-long videotaped speech in front of a panel, after being allowed only ten minutes to prepare.

The participants then rated how they felt afterward. Those with a tendency to avoid their negative emotions had more difficulty with the test and showed higher levels of anxiety than those who were used to accepting their emotions.

Finally, over 200 people were invited to keep a journal about their most difficult experiences over a two-week period. Six months later, they were interviewed about their mental health, and no surprise those who had denied their emotions in regard to difficult experiences reported more symptoms of mood disorders than the others.

The next step for the researchers will be to examine factors such as culture and education to better understand why some people are more inclined to accept their emotions than others. As Mauss explained:

"By asking parents about their attitudes about their childrens emotions, we may be able to predict how their children feel about their emotions, and how that might affect their childrens mental health."

(Photo: ABC)

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Accepting Negative Emotions Is Better For Mental Health, Study ... - Konbini