Rainy Day Healing

 

Making My Peace … with profanity being good for mental health 

 

Profanity – cursing, cussing, swearing – can be good for mental health if used appropriately and responsibly – say researchers. Research shows that swearing during pain can help ease the pain, and using profanity helps to build resilience in situations where people have limited control of an outcome. Profanity, Healthline.com says, has other benefits too – creative expression, vocalizing issues in a relationship, releasing pressure, anxiety, and stress, and signaling a relaxed and comfortable state with others.

Researchers think that sporadic outbursts of profanity are helpful and healthful. Dr Raffaello Antonino, a counseling psychologist and founder of Therapy Central, told Healthline in February 2021 that “swearing can have a truly liberating effect when we’re feeling bottled up with frustration … it can have a calming impact on the difficult emotions we might be experiencing.”

 

Research published in The Journal of Pain in 2011 by the Keele University in the United Kingdom showed that people putting their hands in ice water could endure the pain longer if they were able to swear at the same time (oh sh*t!), instead of using other words (my goodness, my fingers hurt). It apparently has something to do with the surge of adrenaline in the system. However, swearing as pain relief appears to be more effective for people who typically don’t swear much, and less effective for prolific swearers. Here the benchmark is 60 curse words a day – with more than that defined as a prolific swearer and less than that defined as a casual swearer.

Therefore, it appears that overuse of swearing has limited effect in pain relief and overall better mental health, says Dr Richard Stephens at Keele University. Used in moderation it can be an effective and readily available short-term pain reliever – and better than medication or painkillers.

It can help not only with physical pain but also with emotional pain. The researchers note that the situation itself doesn’t get better, but as a coping mechanism it is one way the human body takes control of the situation.

Dr Raffaello Antonino said that “it’s important to point out that although swearing will not resolve our issues practically, it can help calm and resolve our internal emotional imbalance caused by those experiencing these external issues. In essence; swearing can be an effective short-term emotion-regulation tool.”

Dr Kyle Zrenchik, co-founder of All in Therapy, says that by allowing ourselves the freedom to swear allows people the freedom to live a bit more authentically and honestly without fear of being judged.

“Swearing is not just about expressing anger,” says Zrenchik, “it can also be an expression of creativity. Some swearing is simply creative. And the thousand different ways people turn swear words into funny, inspiring, and ingenious phrases is nothing short of a creative medium,” he said.

American horror-genre author Stephen King (1947-) said of his mother and profanity that, “My mother, God rest her, didn’t approve of profanity or any such talk; she called it ‘the language of the ignorant.’ This did not, however, keep her from yelling ‘Oh sh*t!’ if she burned the roast or nailed her thumb a good one while hammering a picture-hook in the wall.”

Or as American science fiction author Micah R. Sisk (1958-) says, “Profanity is to language as salt is to food. Too much will give you high blood pressure. Too little and it gets really f’ing bland.”

Better yet, American journalist Finley Peter Dunne (1867-1936) said, “Swearing was invented as a compromise between running away and fighting.”

Well, the use of profanity is still controversial as an accepted form of mental health rebalancing. But what you say to yourself in your own company – “into the abyss” – in times of stress is what really matters – if it helps, it’s another tool in the toolbox of anxiety soothers.

Making my peace with profanity being good for mental health, I learned the following:

• There is a difference between swearing to oneself (“into the abyss”) in a time of extreme emotional or physical pain, and swearing for the sake of it
• There is a difference between swearing with friends and people that you feel comfortable with, and swearing at someone in times of anger or frustration, or wanting to put someone down psychologically
• Politeness in times of high stress can be counter-productive
• Your mind’s tongue has got to say what your mind wants to say – either aloud or under your breath.

 

 

Martina Nicolls: Rainy Day Healing – MAKING MY PEACE