I will have to admit that as a mental health type, I have developed a short fuse for whining. Not complaining, but whining. Now I don't normally consider Psychology Today as a refereed journal source but found a post by Paul Winch, Ph.D. on October 10, 2012 to be illuminating in helping me understand why my fuse for whiners has gotten much shorter as I age. An excerpt from Dr. Winch's musings are from that post are as follows:
"Complaining and whining can be distinguished by the nature of the dissatisfaction and by our motivation for expressing it. Complaining involves voicing fair and legitimate dissatisfactions with the goal of attaining a resolution or remedy. When we voice legitimate dissatisfactions but do so without the goal of attaining a resolution we are merely venting. And when the dissatisfactions we voice are trivial or inconsequential and not worthy of special attention, we are whining.The distinction is significant because complaining, venting, and whining, have very different effects on our psychology and emotions. How we complain affects us in substantial ways, many of which we fail to realize. They impact us materially (read, Do You Speak up When You Should?), emotionally (read, How Much of Your Life Do You Spend Angry?), physically (read, When Minor Complaints have Major Consequences) and psychologically (read, Does Complaining Damage Our Mental Health?).
In addition, how we express dissatisfactions has a significant impact on how we are perceived by those to whom we voice them (read, The Survival Guide for Dealing with Chronic Complainers). Now, a new study expands this body of knowledge by demonstrating that children as young as three-years-old can distinguish between complaining and whining, and respond accordingly."
I guess as I read some of the posts, I am embarrassedly less tolerant of whining than complaining. All complaints are welcome in my book but I have lost a lot of tolerance for whining. Just my two cents of armchair psychology. Carry on and don't lose your head:2thumbs:
"Complaining and whining can be distinguished by the nature of the dissatisfaction and by our motivation for expressing it. Complaining involves voicing fair and legitimate dissatisfactions with the goal of attaining a resolution or remedy. When we voice legitimate dissatisfactions but do so without the goal of attaining a resolution we are merely venting. And when the dissatisfactions we voice are trivial or inconsequential and not worthy of special attention, we are whining.The distinction is significant because complaining, venting, and whining, have very different effects on our psychology and emotions. How we complain affects us in substantial ways, many of which we fail to realize. They impact us materially (read, Do You Speak up When You Should?), emotionally (read, How Much of Your Life Do You Spend Angry?), physically (read, When Minor Complaints have Major Consequences) and psychologically (read, Does Complaining Damage Our Mental Health?).
In addition, how we express dissatisfactions has a significant impact on how we are perceived by those to whom we voice them (read, The Survival Guide for Dealing with Chronic Complainers). Now, a new study expands this body of knowledge by demonstrating that children as young as three-years-old can distinguish between complaining and whining, and respond accordingly."
I guess as I read some of the posts, I am embarrassedly less tolerant of whining than complaining. All complaints are welcome in my book but I have lost a lot of tolerance for whining. Just my two cents of armchair psychology. Carry on and don't lose your head:2thumbs:
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