What Happens When We Push Emotions Down?

"Our culture, and often our upbringing, teaches us that emotional strength equals control; rather than working through or processing difficult emotions, like anger, grief, shame, and fear, we learn to push feelings aside and 'get over it'. Don't dwell. Don't fall apart. Be positive. Get a grip. We learn to project an image of unrealistic stability and strength, while ignoring our actual mental state."

"When emotions are chronically ignored or inhibited, the unprocessed feelings can remain stuck, buried outside a person's awareness, affecting the body and the mind. When suppression is used as a primary, habitual response, the body is more stressed state and reactive (Tyra, Fergus, and Ginty, 2023). The nervous system holds those things that have never been fully processed. In daily life, this can translate into physiological and psychological distress, including irritability, hyper-vigilance, rumination, depression, emptiness, somatic distress, exhaustion."

Modern life and many social norms teach emotional control and avoidance of difficult feelings such as anger, grief, shame, and fear. Habitual avoidance, intellectualizing, suppressing, or repressing emotions prevents full processing and can leave emotions buried outside conscious awareness. The nervous system retains unprocessed material, producing a more stressed and reactive bodily state. Persistent suppression can manifest as irritability, hyper-vigilance, rumination, depression, emptiness, somatic distress, exhaustion, difficulty identifying emotions, compulsive productivity, substance use, and relationship problems. Unprocessed emotions, especially stemming from childhood trauma, raise risk for chronic tension, pain, digestive problems, and cardiovascular disease. Traditional gender norms shape which emotions are recognized and permitted.

Read at Psychology Today