"Emotional suppression" refers to the act of hiding or repressing one's emotions, not allowing oneself to express or feel them openly. This can happen for various reasons, such as trying to appear strong or avoiding confrontation.
Full definition
Interestingly, the degree to which couple members «matched» on their level of
emotional suppression also predicted change in marital quality over time — but perhaps not in ways you would think.
If you have ever hidden a worry to avoid worrying someone else or suppressed negative emotions that could lead someone to judge or dislike you, then you have
experienced emotional suppression.
The recurrent use of
emotional suppression in the long term produces reduced control of emotion, problems in interpersonal functioning, and higher depressive symptomatology [29].
It also tends to be ineffective and unsustainable, as David's research on
emotional suppression shows that when emotions are pushed aside or ignored, they get stronger.
The model that best accounted for this relation included the mediating variables of rumination, negative emotion, and emotional unclarity (these authors did not
include emotional suppression or thought suppression as possible mediators).
This lack of concordance between implicit and explicit negative emotional expression has been noted to occur
when emotional suppression is used as a form of emotional regulation [27], [28].
Velotti, P., Balzarotti, S., Tagliabue, S., English, T., Zavattini, G. C., & Gross, J. J. (in press)
Emotional suppression in early marriage: Actor, partner, and similarity effects on marital quality.
Think of
emotional suppression and acting out as being on opposite sides of a seesaw.
It takes energy to avoid feeling emotion — and there is a direct connection to feeling exhausted from
this emotional suppression.
Researchers have also found that
emotional suppression is higher among adolescents than adults.
Holding back, reducing, or inhibiting ongoing emotions is known in the research world as «
emotional suppression.»
Authoritarian parents are characterized by Victorian values of
emotional suppression, harshness and conservatism.
Emotional suppression is especially common in close relationships.
Emotional suppression is part of the brain's sophisticated sacrifice play to ensure that anything that would be too overwhelming, interfere with attachment needs being met, or would get in the way of fixing a problem, doesn't become conscious and felt vulnerably.
One of the main purposes is to avoid blame and
emotional suppression, which may cause additional tension at home.
Posttraumatic stress disorder,
emotional suppression and psychiatric co-morbidity in patients with chronic idiopathic urticaria: a moderated mediation analysis.
The emotional suppression leads to powerful emotional outbursts.
In contrast, attachment - related avoidance had its effects through a deactivating pathway involving high levels of
emotional suppression and limited understanding and clarity about emotional states.
Furthermore, compared to a wait - list control group (N = 22) assessed, like the intervention group, at three time points (pre-intervention, one week post intervention, and five weeks post-intervention), the intervention group (N = 17) showed significant improvements in rumination, negative emotion (marginally significant),
emotional suppression, emotional unclarity, emotion regulation, and mindfulness.
This study explores youths» perspectives on school - based emotional expression,
emotional suppression, and emotion coaching in urban high schools.
[jounal] Gross, J. J. / 1993 /
Emotional suppression: Physiology, self - report, and expressive behavior / Journal of Personality & Social Psychology 64 (6): 70 ~ 986
Moreover,
emotional suppression (ERQ) was mainly related to fear of Anger (0.32) and Positive affect (0.31).
These findings demonstrate that
emotional suppression is attained at a higher physiological, psychological and interpersonal cost [32], [35].