New research debunks the myth that 'blowing off steam' is the best way to reduce anger

If you’ve watched even a modest amount of movies, you’ve probably seen this ultimate cliché scene: a character so overwhelmed with anger, so uncontrollable in their fury, they take out their emotions on their physical environment—shattering dishes, punching holes in walls, throwing televisions out of windows. "Rage rooms" have seemingly been built around this concept, with customers around the world paying to ease their angst by smashing objects.

But in a study published in Clinical Psychology Review, partly inspired by the rising popularity of such businesses, researchers determined that venting is not an effective way to reduce anger. In fact, researchers recommended the exact opposite approach.

"I wanted to debunk the whole theory of expressing anger as a way of coping with it," said Sophie Kjærvik, the study’s co-author and currently a postdoctoral fellow at Virginia Commonwealth University, in an interview with Ohio State University’s news blog. "We wanted to show that reducing arousal, and actually the physiological aspect of it, is really important." To accomplish that goal, they analyzed 154 studies involving 10,189 participants of various races, ages, genders, and cultures. They discovered that activities that increased arousal were generally ineffective as an anger reducer, with some activities making it worse. However, they found that certain activities, like ball sports, decreased anger, suggesting that introducing an element of play elicited positive emotions.

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"I think it’s really important to bust the myth that if you’re angry you should blow off steam—get it off your chest,” said fellow author Brad Bushman, a communications professor at Ohio State. “Venting anger might sound like a good idea, but there’s not a shred of scientific evidence to support catharsis theory…To reduce anger, it is better to engage in activities that decrease arousal levels. Despite what popular wisdom may suggest, even going for a run is not an effective strategy because it increases arousal levels and ends up being counterproductive."

The researchers examined both arousal-increasing activities (like jogging, cycling, and swimming) and arousal-decreasing activities (like meditation, deep breathing, mindfulness, and slow flow yoga). They found that the latter category helped lower anger across the board. “It was really interesting to see that progressive muscle relaxation and just relaxation in general might be as effective as approaches such as mindfulness and meditation,” said Kjærvik, noting the parallels of strategies between reducing stress and reducing anger. “And yoga, which can be more arousing than meditation and mindfulness, is still a way of calming and focusing on your breath that has the similar effect in reducing anger."

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As for rage rooms, opinions have varied widely about their efficacy as a real anger-management tool. In 2020, clinical psychologist Scott Bea, PsyD told Cleveland Clinic, "Repressed anger produces all sorts of problems. It can contribute to physiological symptoms, or psychological symptoms like anxiety. The way in which we manage anger is significant. We have this culture in which people are often really angry. Yet we’ve not taught people how to express anger in healthy ways, or what anger’s all about, or how it’s sometimes useful."

While it’s possible destroying random junk might give you some immediate relief, it’s unlikely to help in the long run. “There probably is a discharge of pent-up emotion in those moments," he said, "but I think it’s probably short-lived."

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