Laura mclean’s Blog

Huffing and puffing might not be the most acceptible thing to do in the office but you’ll have the edge over your cool-headed colleagues, according to a study carried out by Harvard Medical School.

A group of experts in anger management who followed 824 people over 44 years have found that frustration can actually help us to focus.

Professor George Vaillant, is director of the Study of Adult Development at Harvard.

He said “Negative emotions are often crucial for survival. Careful experiments such as ours have documented that negative emotions narrow and focus attention so we can concentrate on the trees instead of the forest.”

Valliant believes that uncontrolled anger is dangerous but learning to channel anger in a positive way will allow workers to establish themselves in the work place, as well as to enjoy physical and emotional stability in their private life.

Anger is often linked to violence, but a study by Dr Howard Kassinove, co-author of Anger Management: The Complete Treatment Guidebook for Practice, showed that more than 55 per cent of the 2000 adults taking part felt that angry episodes had produced a positive outcome.

And getting angry doesn’t have to be about shouting and violence. Labelled the ‘misunderstood emotion’ by philosopher Alain de Botton , it is believed that by repressing anger you will be doing more harm than good.

Allowing yourself to be angry is thought to increase your sense of control. And an ability to remain assertive wins the respect of peers and can put you in a good position for promotions – and scare off the competition.