The important thing was to ... reach some kind of resolution and consensus about the matter.
The ones who do not do that ... were the ones who kept it on their mind, brooded over it, and then got angry every time they thought about it ... .
Now if you resent something, then you’re in a more chronic condition, and it’s very difficult to resolve because you’ve got a lot of different ‘unjust’ things on your mind ... .
This resentment, which resides in the body as I would say a ‘morbid condition’, is constantly revived by the thought of the unjust attack, and the anger continues.
And then, there’s some influence on other morbid conditions you might have, like high blood pressure or ulcers ... and the two of them combine to then make prediction to an earlier mortality.
Harburg, E., Kaciroti, N., Gleiberman, L., Julius, M., Schork, A. Marital pair anger-coping types may act as an entity to affect mortality: Preliminary findings from a prospective study (Tecumseh, Michigan, 1971-88). Journal of Family Communication, 8(1): 44-61, 2008.
Ernest Harburg, Ph.D., M.A., B.S.S.
University of Michigan School of Public Health
Research Scientist
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