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Thought suppression is a psychoanalytical defense mechanism. It is a type of motivated forgetting in which an individual consciously attempts to stop thinking about a particular thought. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] It is often associated with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). [ 3 ]
The phenomenon was identified through thought suppression studies in experimental psychology. Social psychologist Daniel Wegner first studied ironic process theory in a laboratory setting in 1987. [4] Ironic mental processes have been shown in a variety of situations, where they are usually created by or worsened by stress.
Thought suppression has mainly been studied using arbitrary thoughts (such as that of a white bear [9]) making it unrepresentative of real problematic thoughts that involve emotion, which could actually be harder to suppress. Meanwhile, studies on thought stopping have proven it to be effective against problematic cognition, showing a ...
Psychologists have long used this example to illustrate that suppressing a thought only makes it more intrusive. By the same logic, suppressing fears or anxieties is commonly assumed to negatively ...
Motivated forgetting is a theorized psychological behavior in which people may forget unwanted memories, either consciously or unconsciously. [1] It is an example of a defence mechanism, since these are unconscious or conscious coping techniques used to reduce anxiety arising from unacceptable or potentially harmful impulses thus it can be a defence mechanism in some ways. [2]
Laboratory-based thought suppression studies suggest avoidance is paradoxical, in that concerted attempts at suppression of a particular thought often leads to an increase of that thought. [15] Studies examining emotional suppression and pain suppression suggest that avoidance is ineffective in the long-run.
Compared to suppression (including both thought suppression and expressive suppression), which is positively correlated with many psychological disorders, [10] reappraisal can be associated with better interpersonal outcomes, and can be positively related to well-being. [41]
In psychoanalysis, resistance is the individual's efforts to prevent repressed drives, feelings or thoughts from being integrated into conscious awareness. [1]Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalytic theory, developed the concept of resistance as he worked with patients who suddenly developed uncooperative behaviors during the analytic session.