Title: Emotional suppression: Causes and consequences - PsychMechanics
Headings: Emotional suppression: Causes and consequences
Emotional suppression: Causes and consequences
What are suppressed emotions?
Causes of suppressing emotions
Consequences of suppressing emotions
Emotional numbness: A consequence of emotional suppression
Expressing emotions is important
Sometimes you can’t express your emotions
References

Content: This often results in mood swings, unexplained sadness, and mild depression. Then, when we face a future problem, we won’t just feel bad because of the problem at hand but also because of these suppressed emotions we’re holding on to. Therefore, the intensity of our bad emotions will be more than others who face similar problems. Suppressed emotions that are bottled up intensify over time and express themselves as anger or aggression outbursts. Studies confirm that bottling up emotions can make people more aggressive. 1
Suppressed emotions can also leak out in the form of dreams or nightmares. If you’re trying to hide an emotion in your waking life, it may get expressed in your dreams. If you continue to leave the emotion unexpressed, you might even get recurring dreams about it. Suppressing negative emotions may lead to depression, low self-esteem, and even physical illness in extreme cases. Suppressing emotions is a risk factor in premature death, including death from cancer.