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Effect of self-controlled respiration on provoked anger

2002; Volume: 15; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.11560/jahp.15.2_21

2187-5529

Shuhei Izawa, Asako Yoda, Masahisa Kodama,

Mental Health Research Topics

We formulated the hypothesis that self-controlled respiration is a useful relaxation method for mitigating provoked anger. We tested 29 university student participants who were divided into two groups: high AHA (anger, hostility and aggression) and low AHA based on the scores of Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire and the T-anger score in the State-Trait Anger Scale. After provocation using a mirror-drawing task, the subjects were asked either to control their respiration by adjusting it to fit auditory and visual stimuli (RC condition), or to do nothing (NRC condition). The result showed that self-controlled respiration (RC condition) decreased systolic blood pressure and the anger mood, and increased refreshing mood. Changes observed in the NRC condition were smaller than those in the RC condition. We have concluded that self-controlled respiration is a useful relaxation method to decrease both psychological and physiological parameters of anger.