What is suppression mental health?
Suppression is the defense mechanism by which individuals cope with distressing mental contents by voluntarily making efforts to put them out of conscious awareness until there is an opportunity to cope adaptively with those stressors.
Is thought suppression good?
Roemer and Borkovec found that participants who suppressed anxious or depressing thoughts showed a significant rebound effect. Furthermore, Wenzlaff, Wegner, & Roper demonstrated that anxious or depressed subjects were less likely to suppress negative, unwanted thoughts.
What are the consequences of thought suppression?
Thought suppression may lead to a “rebound” effect, where the effort to push a thought away actually causes it to return. 1 Of course, this leads to more thought suppression, which leads to experiencing more distressing thoughts. It can turn into a vicious cycle.
How do you deal with suppressed thoughts?
Strategies for Unwanted Thoughts
- Choose a distractor and focus on that. If you’re given two things to think about, your concentration is fractured, and will give your brain a small break from focusing on the unwanted thought.
- Postpone the thought.
- Cut back on multitasking.
- Think about it.
- Meditation and mindfulness.
Can you repress thoughts?
Repression is a psychological defense mechanism in which unpleasant thoughts or memories are pushed from the conscious mind. An example might be someone who does not recall abuse in their early childhood, but still has problems with connection, aggression and anxiety resulting from the unremembered trauma.
Is it bad to suppress your emotions?
Studies have shown that suppressing emotions actually endangers your health and well-being, both physically and psychologically. Emotional suppression (having a stiff upper lip or “sucking it up”) might decrease outward expressions of emotion but not the inner emotional experience.
What happens if you ignore OCD thoughts?
It can easily become a form of compulsive avoidance, a refusal to acknowledge that the thought occurred in the first place and a refusal to experience feelings as they are. Active “ignoring” can trigger an additional sense of being in denial (and thus more anxiety).
Should I just ignore intrusive thoughts?
They simply need to be ignored. Another myth people have about intrusive thoughts is the belief that they need to be closely examined. But remember they are just thoughts, and they only have the power we give to them. If there is no mental health issue present, letting them go should not be a problem.
How do you accept intrusive thoughts?
Acknowledge the thought as being intrusive. Remind yourself that a thought can’t hurt you and isn’t always actionable. Don’t engage with the intrusive thought or try to dissect it. Allow the thought to pass by through observation instead of panic.
How do I know if I have repressed emotions?
Recognizing emotional repression in your feelings regularly feel numb or blank. feel nervous, low, or stressed a lot of the time, even if you aren’t sure why. have a tendency to forget things. experience unease or discomfort when other people tell you about their feelings.
Why is hiding emotions bad?
By hiding your emotions, you prevent clear communication with the people in your life. This lack of communication makes it tough to navigate conflict. When you can’t work through problems, they’ll probably keep happening.
Which is a disorder caused by thought suppression?
In a review of the literature in 1999, Christine Purdon indicated that thought suppression has now been identified as both a causal and/or maintaining factor in generalized anxiety disorder, specific phobia, posttraumatic stress disorder, obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), and depression.
What are the effects of suppression on mental health?
Indeed, because of the frequent intrusiveness of formally suppressed thoughts, suppression has been implicated in the potential maintenance and causes of a wide variety of mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety and depression (Erskine et al., 2007; Purdon, 1999; Wegner & Zanakos, 1994).
Why do people try to suppress intrusive thoughts?
Thought suppression is a common feature of problems such as obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) where individuals attempt to suppress intrusive thoughts. Intrusive thoughts (and thought suppression) are also features of other clinical conditions such as PTSD and depression.
What does the term suppression mean in psychology?
Thought suppression commonly refers to the act of deliberately trying to rid the mind of unwanted thoughts (Wegner, 1989).