The association between emotional disclosure and anger rumination

Anger, as a fundamental emotion is affiliated with threats and negative evaluation. Researchers have presented anger rumination as a construct related to anger and also that alexithymic individuals imply rumination as a way to regulate and manage their anger and negative emotions. The aim of the present study is to examine the effectiveness of written emotional disclosure on reduction of anger rumination among individuals affected by alexithymia. Hence, in a semi-experimental study with pretest-posttest, and control group, 130 male and female graduate level students at University of Tehran were selected through availability sampling method. A total of 30 participants having high scores on Toronto Alexithymia Scale were screened and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Participants in both groups were evaluated for anger rumination at the start and end of the study. A two-week program of written emotional disclosure (sis twenty-minutes sessions) was executed for experimental group. The control group received no intervention. Attained data were analyzed using univariate analysis of covariance with SPSS version 23. The results revealed reduction in anger rumination as a result of written emotional disclosure among alexithymic individuals. It is concluded that teaching of written emotional disclosure can be used to reduce anger rumination and its negative outcomes among general and clinical populations.