Stifling anger at work unhealthy - study

AFR

LET IT OUT: A new study has found that men who bottle up their anger at being unfairly treated at work are up to five times more likely to suffer a heart attack.

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Men who bottle up their anger at being unfairly treated at work are up to five times more likely to suffer a heart attack, or even die from one, than those who let their frustration show, a Swedish study has found.

The study by the Stress Research Institute of Stockholm University followed 2,755 employed men who had not suffered any heart attacks from 1992 to 2003.

At the end of the study, 47 participants had either suffered an attack, or died from heart disease, and many of those had been found to be "covertly coping" with unfair treatment at work.

"After adjustment for age, socioeconomic factors, risk behaviors, job strain and biological risk factors at baseline, there was a close-response relationship between covert coping and the risk of incident myocardial infarction or cardiac death," the study's authors wrote.

Covert coping was listed as "letting thing pass without saying anything" and "going away" despite feelings of being hard done by colleagues or bosses.

Men who often used these coping techniques had a two to fivefold higher risk of developing heart disease than those who were more confrontational at work, the study showed.

The researchers said they could not answer the question of what might be a particularly healthy coping strategy at work, but listed open coping behavior when experiencing unfair treatment or facing a conflict as "protesting directly," "talking to the person right away," "yelling at the person right away" or "speaking to the person later when things have calmed down."

The study was published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

- Reuters

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Mark   #6   11:12 pm Nov 25 2009

It's a bit like chickens and their pecking order. Making a stand takes effort initially, but once people learn that you're not putting up with their rubbish anymore they learn (very quickly) to back off.

A lot more men should stand up and say what they're thinking/feeling, and not put up with the bulldozers (which are often women) in the workplace.

Frank   #5   09:16 pm Nov 25 2009

"Unfair treatment" is the problem and that does require a response for the situation to be healthy. The "open coping" strategies listed in the research included what could perhaps be considered appropriate behaviours(eg, speaking to the person later when things have cooled down) as well as less appropriate (eg, yelling). The really interesting thing is that regardless of whether the behaviours are those we think are appropriate or inappropriate, we significantly reduced our risk of a heart attack. Maybe, therefore, any response to challenge the injustice of unfair treatment is health enhancing.

CPBum   #4   01:44 pm Nov 25 2009

Try working in public law. People scream and yell at each other regularly and it doesn't make anyone less stressed. It only serves to create a culture where that employee behaviour is accepted, thus no one is happy.

matt   #3   01:07 pm Nov 25 2009

Sounds like being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

kevin   #2   11:52 am Nov 25 2009

Hammer or the nail?

JeM   #1   10:05 am Nov 25 2009

I think those open coping strategies would then up the stress factor of the other person. Lose/lose situation there!

If everyone did that you'd end up with a very stressed environment for the entire workplace as everyone would constantly be yelling, that would affect everyone from the person doing the yelling to the poor receptionist who would have to listen to it!

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