A cancer diagnosis for ourselves or our loved ones can throw us into a whirlwind of emotion, including anxiety, anger or depression. According to a recent study published by Matthew Lieberman at the University of California, Los Angeles in the journal Psychological Science, putting names to our feelings can decrease the intensity of negative feelings.His team used brain scans to monitor the response in the amygdala, the portion of the brain that handles fear, as the participants viewed pictures of faces showing different expressions including anger. When the study participants named the emotion, the response in the amygdala decreased.
While we have all known that talking about what we are feeling can help us feel better, Matthews points to this study as evidence that something real and positive is happening in our brains when we do this.
