HMMM, I have to say that I had used the approach mentioned here about not venting and trying to divert my attention away from things that were bad that happened or bad experiences. I remained very productive and tryed to think about the things that I had learned.

While I see the theory that this may work I have to wonder. Even though I had pushed through many events that were bad experiences including abuse I thought I had worked my way through it. But to my surprise the anger somehow built up inside me. Then I had a really bad event and suddenly all the events seemed to draw together and we call that PTSD. But what I had was chronic and I was quite surprised to find how much my past all came together. I truely thought that I had coped and moved foward. I think that at times I did but I was truely amazed at how much I unconsciously storred.

One of the aspects about this concept I agree with is that I do not believe in constantly reliving an abuse and focusing on it every time one goes to therapy. I truely believe that the purpose of revisiting the past experience is to reason out the fear and anger that is presented and to make sure that the person with the experiences addresses it and works on recovery. Recovery meaning NOT RELIVING but acknowledging it, having it validated and learning how to put it in the past.

When I think about venting I think that there are ways to vent that release the anger that has been taken inward. Often times anger is surpressed by doing an activity that just distracts and ignores the anger. I really think that someone can unknowingly store anger. I do agree that venting can give anger power if it is not done properly. For an example venting to a friend that allows the friend to get angry as well and the anger is agreed and made stronger.

If too much frustration is present and anger flourishes within that frustration then there is no room for pleasant thoughts and experiences. It IS a very slippery slope but this article is moving to the right track of beginning to realize that the expression of anger and venting has to be done correctly. If anger is not released properly than any new occurance that mimics the original experience where anger was storred can be turned into what we now call a trigger. Often, depending on the anger, the one way that anger needs to be addressed is to be released with the experience to a compassionate listener and then the event or situation be morned and validated and recovery can begin.

It is very important that a person understand how they may unknowingly store anger. The worst thing someone can do is invalidate anger, that also increases the thrust for anger to remain internalized. Resolving anger is no easy task depending on the circumstances that lead to anger. Small circustances can be remedied by making it into a joke by the person who is angry. But anger that comes from failure or unwanted intrusion cannot be made into a joke.

Open Eyes