 Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit gave 20-minute Zoom session training sessions to participants worldwide. People in 16 countries were asked to think about 20 different fears and worries they thought might happen, 20 hopes and dreams, and 36 humdrum scenarios. Data show those told explicitly to not think about the events, or to distract themselves from thinking about them, thought about their events less vividly and improved their mental health. Mental health improvement Dr Zulkayda Mamat, study author from Cambridge University, said the suppression approach 'very clearly' made the events of concern seem less anxiety-inducing. 'Participants improved in terms of their mental health but we saw the biggest effect among those participants who were given practice at suppressing fearful, rather than neutral, thoughts,' she said. Prof Michael Anderson, co-author of the study, added: 'What we found runs counter to the accepted narrative. '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 well-being perniciously. 'The whole point of psychotherapy is to dre){kind=link}
Burying negative feelings has long been thought to be bad for our minds, but new scientific research shows this might not be the case
Keeping a stiff upper lip and suppressing negative thoughts is good for mental health, a Cambridge study has found.
It has previously been suggested that burying bad feelings deep in one’s psyche is unhealthy and simply pushes them into our subconscious, where they wreak havoc.
But analysis of 120 people trained to suppress their thoughts found the modern approach of addressing trauma and problems can be worse than burying them internally.
University of Cambridge researchers at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit gave 20-minute Zoom session training sessions to participants worldwide.