14 DAY TRIAL // One of the factors that have a significant influence on our mental and physical health is the way we cope with disappointment, a new study suggests. The paper also shows a way to improve this aspect of our lives, by comparing our apparent bad luck with that of people who are worse off.
This is an old adagio, which scientists are now beginning to demonstrate correct. Overcoming feelings such as disappointment is never easy, and people need all the help they can get in doing so.
Coping with regret is a tremendous challenge to our health, and experts now believe that improving this aspect of people's lives may lead to a reduction in the current number of physical and mental issues.
In a new scientific paper, published in the latest issue of the esteemed journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, experts at the Concordia University detail how they investigated the average mechanisms people use to deal with regret.
The team says that its discovery has the potential of influencing the lives and health of both young and adult people, as well as seniors, PsychCentral reports.
“Our study examined how younger and older adults cope with life regrets. One common coping mechanism was through social comparisons, which can be both good and bad, depending on whether people think they can undo their regrets,” says Isabelle Bauer, PhD.
“Generally if people compare themselves to those who are worse off, they’re going to feel better. [But,] when they compare themselves to people who are better off, it can make them feel worse,” she adds.
The Concordia expert is the lead author of the new research paper. She explains that people who were instructed in the experiments to use downward social comparisons exhibited a remarkably improved level of emotional well-being in the months that followed the tests.
“The effectiveness of coping mechanisms depended more on an individual’s perceived ability to change their life regret than on their age. Moving on and being able to maintain good emotional well-being depends greatly on an individual’s opportunity to correct the cause of their regrets,” Bauer explains.
“The emotional distress of regrets can trigger biological dysregulation of the hormone and immune systems that makes people more vulnerable to develop clinical health problems – whether a cold or other potentially longer-term health problems,” says Carsten Worsch, PhD.
“In this study, we showed that downward social comparisons can improve emotional well-being and help prevent health problems,” concludes the expert, who is the senior author of the research paper.