Recognizing emotional repression in your behavior feel distressed or irritated when someone asks you about your feelings.feel cheerful and calm most of the time because you never let your thoughts linger on anything significant or upsetting.experience unease or discomfort when other people tell you about their feelings.feel nervous, low, or stressed a lot of the time, even if you aren’t sure why.This can make it tough to describe how you feel to others, of course, but it also makes it difficult for you to recognize when certain aspects of your life aren’t serving your needs. People with repressed emotions often have trouble naming and understanding their emotional experience. Recognizing emotional repression in your feelings
These signs might show up in your feelings or your behavior - both toward yourself and other people. If you do have repressed emotions, however, you might notice a few key signs. It’s not always easy to recognize when you’re dealing with emotional repression, and there’s no definitive test you can take.
How do I know if I have repressed emotions? If you struggle with expressing anger in productive ways, you may face a higher risk of developing: Unresolved anger can have some significant health consequences, too. These issues often cause physical symptoms, including:Ĭhildhood trauma, one possible cause of repressed emotions, may also play a part in chronic illness. Repressed emotions can also factor into mental health conditions, such as stress, anxiety, and depression. If your immune system doesn’t work properly, you might get sick more frequently and recover slowly. Sadness can’t give you the flu, and anger doesn’t cause cancer.īut research has linked emotional repression to decreased immune system function. There’s no evidence to suggest emotions directly cause illness, of course. “My emotions don’t make me sick… do they?” It might seem easier to express them if you know they won’t draw criticism, though this isn’t the case for everyone dealing with emotional repression. You could feel more in touch with positive emotions, or those considered “normal” and generally accepted by others. Maybe you grew up hearing things like:Įven if your caregivers didn’t specifically invalidate your emotional experience, they still might’ve discouraged you from expressing intense emotions freely by telling you to stop crying or shouting.Īs a result, you began to think of sadness, anger, and disappointment as emotions you shouldn’t have, or at the very least, shouldn’t acknowledge to anyone. It’s common to repress emotions you consider “bad” or believe other people might judge you for expressing.Īgain, this stems back to your childhood. Notice a pattern? These emotions are often described as negative. You might also notice you tend to push even the emotions you do notice aside.įor the most part, people tend to repress strong emotions, especially those associated with discomfort or other unpleasant experiences. As an adult, you might continue to bury strong emotions without realizing what you’re doing. If showing your feelings in childhood led to distressing or painful outcomes, you probably learned it was much safer to avoid this entirely. told you your emotions were wrong or denied your experience.
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