Holding on to bitterness can affect metabolism, immune response or organ function and lead to physical disease, researchers say.
Bitterness not only causes symptoms of trauma like sleeplessness, fatigue, and lack of libido. It can also in the long-term lead to low self-confidence, negative personality shifts, and an inability to have a healthy relationship.
The Cost of Bitterness
Prolong your mental and emotional pain—and may even exacerbate it. Lead to long-lasting anxiety and/or depression. Precipitate vengeful acts that put you at further risk of being hurt or victimized—and possibly engulf you in a never-ending, self-defeating cycle of getting even.
The Effects of Bitterness
If you deny it and don't process it with forgiveness, the hurt you experience can turn into bitterness. Bitterness saps your joy. It can steal away the goodness from your life. It paints a blue sky black and holds you in bondage.
Bitterness is also a sin that can destroy life. Romans 12:19 commands us not to seek revenge, but instead to let God avenge. The key elements of bitterness are unresolved anger, the inability to grieve, and a lack of control: 1.
In Hebrews 12:15, the Holy Spirit speaks of a “root of bitterness” which is often the cause of the greatest difficulty for men. When bitterness is allowed to develop in the heart, the end result is defilement. Bitterness and genuine gratitude to God cannot coexist.
In psychology, the emotional reaction and mood of bitterness is referred to as 'embitterment'. It is an emotional state of feeling let down and unable to do anything about it. Embitterment is different than anger because although it involves the same outrage it also involves feeling helpless to change things.
Why is bitterness so damaging? Stress hormones. The negative emotions attached to bitterness can influence stress responses and release the hormone cortisol. Chronically high levels of this hormone can affect the immune system and increase the odds of disease.
The book of Hebrews warns us about allowing bitterness to take root: “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no 'root of bitterness' springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled” (Hebrews 12:15).
Effects of Bitterness
However, we may be unaware of how bitterness is affecting us physically and emotionally. The cause of anxiety, depression, and other illnesses may be unresolved bitterness. Sadly, the person who is bitter and resentful is also repelling people at a time when they may need them most.
The Bible tells us that the best way to lose bitterness is to be forgiving. In Ephesians 4:32, Paul wrote, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
Constant bitterness can make a person ill, according to Concordia University researchers who have examined the relationship between failure, bitterness and quality of life.
Bitterness starts when we cling to anger and resentment and start holding a grudge. Instead of responding with forgiveness or love, we may let our negative emotions grow and treat others with passive-aggressive behavior, hostility or disdain.
Bitters are a type of spirit infused with fruit, spices, leaves, bark, roots, and herbs—collectively known as botanicals. That means, fundamentally, bitters is a type of alcohol-infused with plant matter.
Bitter individuals often operate from a blaming and non-empathic perspective. In their personal and professional relationships, bitter men and women often blame others when things go wrong or when things do not work out as they wanted or expected.
The current available data suggests that bitter compounds are often nontoxic, but the chance for higher toxicity is higher for a bitter compound than for a nonbitter compound.
The definitions of anger and bitterness are similar: Anger: a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility. Bitterness: anger and disappointment at being treated unfairly; resentment.
Join a support group or see a counselor. Acknowledge your emotions about the harm done to you, recognize how those emotions affect your behavior, and work to release them. Choose to forgive the person who's offended you. Release the control and power that the offending person and situation have had in your life.
5 fierce, cruel, ruthless, relentless. 7 acrimonious, caustic, biting, sardonic, scornful.
bitter adjective (ANGRY)
Someone who is bitter is angry and unhappy because they cannot forget bad things that happened in the past: I feel very bitter about my childhood and all that I went through. She'd suffered terribly over the years but it hadn't made her bitter. B2.