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Repression is a defense mechanism in which people push difficult or unacceptable thoughts out of conscious awareness. Repressed memories were a cornerstone of Freud’s psychoanalytic framework.
Jan 6, 2022 · Key points. People’s habitual way of dealing with anger falls into one of two sets of patterns—externalising it or internalising it. As people who repress anger divert their anger toward...
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Repression is the unconscious blocking of unpleasant emotions, impulses, memories, and thoughts from your conscious mind. First described by Sigmund Freud, the purpose of this defense mechanism is to try to minimize feelings of guilt and anxiety.
However, while repression might initially be effective at calming these difficult emotions, it can lead to greater anxiety down the road. Freud believed that repression could lead to psychological distress.
Repression vs. Suppression
In order to understand how repression works, it is important to look at how Sigmund Freud viewed the mind. Freud conceived of the human mind as being much like an iceberg.
The top of the iceberg that you can see above the water represents the conscious mind. The part of the iceberg that is submerged below the water, but is still visible, is the preconscious. The bulk of the iceberg that lies unseen beneath the waterline represents the unconscious. We may not be aware of what lies in the unconscious, but its contents can still affect our behavior in a number of different ways.
Freud believed that the unconscious mind has a powerful impact on personality and could potentially lead to psychological distress.
As Freud worked to help patients uncover their unconscious feelings, he began to believe that there was some mechanism at work that actively kept unacceptable thoughts hidden. This led to his development of the concept of repression.
Freud suggested that physical symptoms could be associated with repression. Subsequent research has linked an array of signs and symptoms with repressed emotions. These include:
•High blood pressure
•Skin conditions
•Fatigue
•Obesity
•Headache
Repression is one way the mind can deal with difficult thoughts or emotions. And in some cases, that is helpful. One review of research concluded that distorting reality through repression most often helps improve psychological and social functioning. People who have what is known as a repressive coping style tend to experience less depression and cope better with pain.
Other research into repressive coping showed that it is more common in older people, suggesting that it is something that develops over time. It is also associated with better well-being. However, repression can also be used to avoid confronting difficult experiences and feelings, and this can have meaningful consequences.
Research has supported the idea that selective forgetting is one way that people block awareness of unwanted thoughts or memories. One way this can occur is through what is referred to as retrieval-induced forgetting.
Retrieval-induced forgetting occurs when recalling certain memories causes other related information to be forgotten. So repeatedly calling forth some memories might lead other memories to become less accessible. Traumatic or unwanted memories, for example, might be forgotten by repeated retrieval of more positive ones.
Repression and Psychoanalysis
While repression is a term frequently used in psychology, it is considered a loaded and controversial concept. It has long served as a core idea within psychoanalysis, yet critics have questioned the validity and even the existence of repression. Psychoanalytic theory suggests that repression plays a role in distorting an individual’s reality, which may then lead to neurosis and dysfunction. However, some research suggests that these distortions may have a beneficial impact in some circumstances. It is also important to note that even if repression does exist and certain things are hidden from awareness, this does not mean that this process necessarily contributes to mental disorders. While it was once thought that psychoanalysis helped people by surfacing repressed memories, it is currently believed that there are many other therapeutic actions that contribute to the success of any type of psychological therapy, psychoanalysis or otherwise.
Repression and Memory
Repressed memories came to the spotlight during the 1980s and 1990s when a number of high-profile cases involving recovered memories of childhood abuse captured media attention. Researchers such as Elizabeth Loftus have repeatedly demonstrated that false memories of events that did not actually happen form quite readily. People are also prone to confabulation of memories. People may fully believe that such memories are accurate, even though the events did not actually occur as remembered. Mandela Effect Examples, Origins, and Explanations Freud himself noted that people sometimes experienced a "recovery" of repressed childhood memories during the course of psychoanalytic therapy. In his book "Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis," he concluded that "these scenes from infancy are not always true. Indeed, they are not true in the majority of cases, and in a few of them they are the direct opposite of the historical truth." One of the key assumptions in the classic tradition of psychoanalysis has been that traumatic memories can be repressed. However, most research has found that trauma actually tends to heighten memory of the painful event. In many cases, trauma can actually strengthen the memory of an event. People may develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of traumatic experiences, causing them to experience vivid flashbacks of the events. Rather than experiencing repression of the painful memories, people relive them again and again, involuntarily. This does not necessarily mean that memories of these events are completely accurate. Memory distortions are common, especially because the encoding, storage, and retrieval processes are prone to errors.
While Freud believed that lifting repression was the key to recovery, this has not been supported by research. Instead, some experts believe that bringing repressed material to light can be the first step toward change. Understanding something, after all, is not enough to fix a problem. But it can lead to further efforts that may result in real rel...
Sep 1, 2006 · The present article reviews and evaluates the history of theory and research on the concept of repression and, its personality characteristic, the repressive coping style.
- Nazanin Derakshan, Michael W. Eysenck
- 1997
Jul 25, 2007 · Repression is the general term that is used to describe the tendency to inhibit the experience and the expression of negative feelings or unpleasant cognitions in order to prevent one’s positive self-image from being threatened (‘repressive coping style’).
- Bert Garssen
- 10.1007/s10865-007-9122-7
- 2007
- J Behav Med. 2007 Dec; 30(6): 471-481.
Jan 12, 2021 · Concerning the controversial topic of repressed memories, we show that plausible alternative explanations exist for why people claim to have forgotten traumatic experiences; explanations that do not require special memory mechanisms such as the unconscious blockage of traumatic memories.
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Oct 26, 2009 · Importantly, there is a body of evidence linking repressive coping and poor physical health, including heart disease and cancer. However, some preliminary findings suggest that repressors compared to non-repressors may be better at health behaviors that they perceive as under their personal control.
