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Venting doesn’t work

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Re: Venting doesn’t work

#31

Post by bena »

sudden_dystopia wrote: post #4

If true, wouldn’t this undermine the entire psychiatric approach of behavioral cognitive therapy and ideas such as confronting one’s fears and talking through problems?

CBT is nearly the opposite of venting. Venting is just pouring out raw emotion, no confrontation.

Venting is "John is an asshole who couldn't find his way out of a wet paper bag. I hope that fucker's entire dick just falls off. He doesn't deserve jack shit."

CBT is more measured. You acknowledge the feeling, but you separate yourself from it. "Yes, I'm mad. I'm mad because of THING. THING upsets me because I believe it should be like THIS. My options are THESE."

Venting is letting your emotions drive your actions. CBT is letting your reason temper your emotion. You control your actions in spite of your emotions.

Re: Venting doesn’t work

#32

Post by JAlexoid »

antisthenes wrote: post #23
JAlexoid wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know of a single study that supports catharsis? Because all studies I know of disprove or end up inconclusive.

I know catharsis was extremely helpful in my grieving process. Realistically, I'm not sure how you would even design a study to accurately measure the effects. Any sort of cathartic experience would necessarily be self-reported and we all know the accuracy of self-report studies.

One of a few studies I've read followed people and found that people who engage in catharsis do it more often and have lower tolerances to irritants.

One of the earlier studies just had people's anger tracked(anger has a very clear physiological response). So no need to have it self reported.

Re: Venting doesn’t work

#33

Post by chaostheory »

swagasaurus-rex wrote: post #8

Stop using small sample sized studies done on college campuses (n = 600, 178, 60) to push clickbait headline articles. Sounds like saying, "Don't cry when you're sad it Doesn't Work" How about let people do what they want? People vent because they want to know they aren't crazy or at fault. Not because they're trying to be calm or forget grievances.

To piggyback, until psychology has a repeatable theoretical model; it's hard to take conclusions like this seriously. It needs to become married with neurology. ie We need to see this happening from a biological perspective. A small sample of surveys is not good enough to form strong conclusions. Otherwise, the results and conclusions feel arbitrary.

Re: Venting doesn’t work

#34

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

JAlexoid wrote: post #22
swagasaurus-rex wrote: post #8

Stop using small sample sized studies done on college campuses (n = 600, 178, 60) to push clickbait headline articles. Sounds like saying, "Don't cry when you're sad it Doesn't Work" How about let people do what they want? People vent because they want to know they aren't crazy or at fault. Not because they're trying to be calm or forget grievances.

Like almost all analogies - it's a bad analogy. Catharsis has a long history of study and proponents of catharsis have yet to get a "win".

I think you missed an opportunity for a "find relief".

Re: Venting doesn’t work

#35

Post by skeeter2020 »

Venting totally CAN work in customer support situations. You let someone pour out confusing and undirected anger/fear/frustration and then you get to work solving the underlying problem or pain point.

Re: Venting doesn’t work

#37

Post by Sohcahtoa82 »

sudden_dystopia wrote: post #4

If true, wouldn’t this undermine the entire psychiatric approach of behavioral cognitive therapy and ideas such as confronting one’s fears and talking through problems?

Those are entirely different concepts.

"Confronting one's fears" is usually about forcing yourself to accept and internalize that your fears are unfounded. Good examples are a fear of roller coasters, fear of flying, or basically anything else that is 99.999% harmless.

Talking through problems is way to guide you (and potentially another person) into understanding, acceptance, and compromise.

Re: Venting doesn’t work

#38

Post by klyrs »

antisthenes wrote: post #23
JAlexoid wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know of a single study that supports catharsis? Because all studies I know of disprove or end up inconclusive.

I know catharsis was extremely helpful in my grieving process. Realistically, I'm not sure how you would even design a study to accurately measure the effects. Any sort of cathartic experience would necessarily be self-reported and we all know the accuracy of self-report studies.

For the value of an anecdote: in my grieving process, I tried several forms of catharsis: hitting a heavy bag, yelling, running and biking angry. In every case, it made me more angry. I got worse. The anger turned inward. It wasn't until I stopped that approach that I made any progress in my grief.

> Any sort of cathartic experience would necessarily be self-reported and we all know the accuracy of self-report studies.

That's not true. In the article, they mention observational studies wherein folks who vent are more likely to lash out. That isn't self-reporting.

Re: Venting doesn’t work

#39

Post by peteradio »

JAlexoid wrote: post #22
swagasaurus-rex wrote: post #8

Stop using small sample sized studies done on college campuses (n = 600, 178, 60) to push clickbait headline articles. Sounds like saying, "Don't cry when you're sad it Doesn't Work" How about let people do what they want? People vent because they want to know they aren't crazy or at fault. Not because they're trying to be calm or forget grievances.

Like almost all analogies - it's a bad analogy. Catharsis has a long history of study and proponents of catharsis have yet to get a "win".

When I bang my thumb with a hammer I yell FUUUUUCCCCKKKKKK as loud as I can, are you telling me that doesn't make the pain less? I'm almost 100% certain that form of catharsis works. It even works in reverse for me, if I'm having a moment of intense emotional strain, punching the wall (also yelling fuck as loud as possible) resets my brain. To say catharsis doesn't work seems to be a limitation of the definition of catharsis in these studies.

Re: Venting doesn’t work

#40

Post by kstenerud »

I think they've missed the point.

Venting isn't for catharsis; It's for seeking validation. When you vent TO someone and they lend a sympathetic ear, it's a huge help.

Venting is a social bonding ritual.

You generally don't get this online because most of the audience is NOT sympathetic, so you'll get criticism after criticism, making things even worse.

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