Mental health articles

How to Work through Resentments?This is where anger at a person or situation is turned back inwards and repressed. The result is often a negative emotion like resent ment. And this tends to stick: or you get stuck with it. There is a fairly straightforward process by which one can work through resentment, but it is usually quite difficult and some additional help may be needed.

●First, you have to identify what you are angry about and whom you are angry with.

●Then you need to find safe ways to start to express this anger. Try writing about it in a journal, talking it over with someone or in therapy, throwing rocks on the beach or in the forest, hitting a cushion, etc. All these can be good.

●With someone else, try to examine any of your irrational thought processes.

●Then try working on your self-esteem and self-confidence. These probably need a boost: look in the appropriate sections of this book.

●When you feel strong enough, look again at what you are resentful about: how much might be your responsibility? How clearly were you seeing the situation? Could you have done anything different? Spend some time reassessing the situations and the people you feel angry about.

●Hanging on to anger and resentment can give a (negative) form of strength or justification: how much do you want to change? None of these really negative emotions is easy to deal with. They will take time. You may need some help. Most psychological therapists (counsellors, psychotherapists, psychologists) have experience of working with people with these feelings and thoughts. Working through these feelings can really change your life.

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