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Gratitude involves acknowledgment
and appreciation of good things in life. Gratitude originated from the Latin
word gratia, which means graciousness, grace, or gratefulness. It means that
you are grateful for whatever good you received. When you express gratitude you
feel more positive toward yourself and the people around you because of their contributions
to improving your life.
Psychology says that grateful
people tend to be happier and healthier and maintain good relations with their
family and friends.
Gratitude is a source of
happiness
Psychological research on
gratitude carried out at the University of Miami and the University of California
divided the participant into three groups.
Group 1: Wrote a few sentences
about the things that made them grateful during the week.
Group 2: Wrote a few sentences
about the things that irritated or displeased them during the week.
Group 3: Wrote a few sentences
about the events that affected them (either positive or negative).
Surprisingly, group 1 felt better
and more optimistic about life, moreover, their visits to physicians were also
reduced in comparison to group 2.
Photo: Google Images
Gratitude improves mental health
A similar study was carried out
on college students with mental health issues like depression and anxiety. These
students were randomly divided into three groups, all seeking counseling.
Group 1: Wrote a letter of
gratitude to someone once a week for three weeks.
Group 2: Wrote about their
negative experiences.
Group 3: No writing activity.
Results indicated that group 1
showed improvement in mental health abilities as compared to groups 2 and 3,
after 4 and 12 weeks of writing activity. It reveals that the expression of gratitude
along with the counseling is more promising than counseling alone. Moreover,
showing gratitude is not just beneficial for healthy individuals but is also
valuable for those suffering from mental health problems.
Interestingly, mental health
benefits did not appear a week after the writing activity but were revealed
after 4 weeks and lasted till 12 weeks which means that the brain takes time to
show the positive effects of gratitude.
Photo: Google Images
The study also examined the positive
psychological effects of showing gratitude such as;
Gratitude reduces the toxic
emotions
It has been found that group 1
used more positive words in their letters which means that they focused on
positive emotions that were associated with better health outcomes. Thinking about
blessings acts as a lens shift that diverts the attention away from negative
emotions.
Gratitude helps you even if you
do not tell others
About 23 % of the participants
from group 1 send their letters to the person they were writing about while 77
% of the participants kept their letters with them. However, both participants
showed better mental health outcomes which indicates that gratitude helps even
if you do not communicate it with others.
Gratitude changes brain activity
The participants in groups 1 and
2 were subjected to functional MRI and results showed that people in group 1
had greater activity in the medial frontal cortex, a region in the brain linked
to decision-making and learning.
In-depth, research is required to
determine the effects of gratitude on other brain functions and how gratitude
improves mental health.
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