Suppressing negative thoughts may be good for mental health, study suggests

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Suppressing negative thoughts might be good for your mental health after all, a new study suggests. We’re all familiar with the Freudian idea that if we suppress our feelings or thoughts, then these thoughts remain in our unconscious, influencing our behaviour and wellbeing perniciously Professor Michael Anderson They found that not only did these become less vivid, but that the mental health of those in the study also improved. It was very clear that those events that participants practised suppressing were less vivid, less emotionally anxiety-inducing, than the other events and that overall, participants improved in terms of their mental health Dr Zulkayda Mamat Dr Zulkayda Mamat – at the time a PhD student in Prof Anderson’s lab and at Trinity College, Cambridge – said: “Because of the pandemic, we were seeing a need in the community to help people cope with surging anxiety. Dr Mamat said: “It was very clear that those events that participants practised suppressing were less vivid, less emotionally anxiety-inducing, than the other events and that overall, participants improved in terms of their mental health.