In a recent breakthrough study published in Science Advances, conventional wisdom regarding the detrimental effects of suppressing negative thoughts on mental health has been called into question. The research suggests that actively pushing away fears and anxieties could, under specific circumstances, lead to a reduction in their intensity, making them less distressing and ultimately contributing to enhancements in mental well-being.
The study was initiated to tackle the long-standing debate surrounding the effectiveness of thought suppression. Traditional psychological theories, rooted in both Freudian concepts and modern cognitive perspectives, have often warned against the dangers of attempting to suppress thoughts, suggesting that it could paradoxically exacerbate emotional distress by making the thoughts more persistent.
However, neurobiological evidence has presented a contrasting view, indicating that thought suppression might indeed have its benefits, such as aiding resilience against stress disorders like PTSD and reducing anxiety. Despite this, the lack of experimental studies due to ethical concerns has left a significant gap in direct evidence regarding the impact of thought suppression on mental health.
Lead study author Michael Anderson, head of the Memory Research Group at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge, commented on the traditional views, stating, “We’re all familiar with the Freudian idea… that suppressing thoughts is intrinsically ineffective… In more recent years, we’ve been told that suppressing thoughts is intrinsically ineffective and that it actually causes people to think the thought more.”
The study, which involved 120 adults from 16 countries, aimed to address these conflicting perspectives. Participants were recruited through various channels and screened for specific criteria, including a history of attention disorders or lack of fluency in English. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the study was conducted entirely online via platforms like Zoom and Skype.
Participants were randomly assigned to two main groups based on the type of thoughts they were instructed to suppress: negative (fears and worries) or neutral events. Additionally, they were further categorized into subgroups tasked with imagining positive or neutral future events to explore how thought suppression interacts with imagination.
During the study, participants generated personal future events and underwent a five-day training procedure involving guided exercises aimed at suppressing or enhancing thoughts related to these events. The results showed that participants who underwent thought suppression training were able to diminish the recall of suppressed thoughts, known as suppression-induced forgetting, for both negative and neutral thoughts.
Contrary to concerns of a rebound effect, where suppressing thoughts might lead to an increase in their frequency or intensity, the study found no evidence of such phenomena. Instead, suppressed thoughts became less vivid and emotionally charged, leading to improvements in various mental health indices such as reductions in anxiety, depression, and negative affect.
Zulkayda Mamat, co-author of the study, highlighted the significance of these findings, stating, “It was very clear that those events that participants practiced suppressing were less vivid, less emotionally anxiety-inducing, than the other events… But we saw the biggest effect among those participants who were given practice at suppressing fearful, rather than neutral, thoughts.”
The study’s findings suggest that thought suppression may be particularly beneficial for individuals with heightened vulnerability to stress and emotional disturbances, with some mental health improvements persisting for up to three months after the training.
While the results are promising, the researchers acknowledge limitations in their study, including its online nature and the use of self-report measures. They call for further research to explore the mechanisms underlying the potential benefits of thought suppression and its long-term impacts on mental health.
María Cantero-García, a lecturer in psychology at the Universidad a Distancia de Madrid, who was not involved in the study, emphasized the importance of these findings for psychotherapy, noting that they could provide therapists with a more balanced understanding of negative-thought suppression. However, she also cautioned that more research is needed to fully comprehend the implications of these results.
In conclusion, this groundbreaking study challenges the prevailing notion that suppressing negative thoughts is inherently harmful, offering new insights into the potential benefits of thought suppression for mental health, especially in individuals with heightened vulnerability to stress and emotional disturbances.
Breakthrough Research Suggests Active Thought Suppression Could Enhance Mental Well-being by Bangkok Health Service
