On March 12, Martijn van Teffelen defended his dissertation at Maastricht University. In recent years, Martijn van Teffelen has conducted research into the effect of online training on treatment outcomes. U-center contributed to this research.
Do you interpret the situation hostile or benign?
Note: This is a news release from 2021 and may contain outdated information.
You know the drill. You're in the supermarket, you've just filled your basket and want to check out. When you get to the checkout, someone cuts you off, your basket falls on the floor and you get angry. Afterwards you think to yourself, "I've noticed that my fuse has become a little shorter lately; how is that possible and can something be done about it?" In cooperation with U-center, Martijn van Teffelen, researcher at Maastricht University, developed an online training.
Train your interpretation
The training focuses on thought processes underlying anger. Let's take the example of the supermarket: you are cut off while waiting in line for the checkout. Now you can think two things: "That fucker pushed me aside," or "the other person didn't see me." We call the first thought a hostile interpretation, the second a benign interpretation. Research shows that when a situation is interpreted in a hostile (rather than benign) way, people are more likely to experience angry feelings and exhibit aggressive behavior (e.g., yelling or cursing). The idea behind the training is simple: teach people to interpret situations in a benign way, and the fuse will grow a little longer. During the training, people were repeatedly presented with random situations (such as those at the supermarket) on the computer. In each situation, people were given the option: do you interpret the situation hostile or benign. The training encouraged people to choose the benign interpretation.
Can you make a short fuse longer?
Clients of U-center (and two other mental health institutions in Limburg) who indicated at registration that they suffered from a short fuse were offered the opportunity to participate in the study. Participants were randomly assigned to a training group, or a control group (a group where positive thoughts were not trained). The training was offered during the time between registration at U-center and actual admission. It was examined whether people were less likely to make hostile thoughts and exhibit aggressive behaviors after the training.
The results were positive. Participants were less likely to make hostile thoughts after the training and showed less aggressive behavior. The effect was small, but it was there. This shows that this online training effectively makes a short fuse a little longer. This is good news because it means the training may be a good addition to existing treatment offerings.
