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Emotional suppression: What it is and its effects

Always pushing your feelings aside? Learn what emotional suppression is, why it happens, and what it means for your long-term wellbeing.

June 12, 2026

By Ryan DeCook, LCSW • Clinically reviewed by Caitlin Pugh, LCSW

7 min read

By Ryan DeCook, LCSW • Clinically reviewed by Caitlin Pugh, LCSW

How would you know if you were stuffing down your feelings? Would there be a sign or a few clues? The truth is you might be doing this every day without realizing it — or maybe you know something is “off” but aren’t aware it’s because you’re suppressing your emotions.

This article breaks down what emotional suppression is, why it happens, how it can affect your health, and what you can do about it.

What is emotional suppression?

Emotional suppression happens when you try to shut down the expression of emotion. During healthy emotional expression, when an emotion comes up, there’s usually some sort of outward display of that emotion. This could include facial expressions, body posture, actions, or words that relate to the specific emotion you’re feeling. But if you’re suppressing emotions, you still feel the emotion internally, yet intentionally shut down the outward expression of it. This is often conscious, meaning you’re aware that you’re doing it. 

Repressed emotions, on the other hand, operate unconsciously — you may not be aware that you are holding them down at all. This can happen when thoughts or emotions feel too unbearable, so they’re kept out of awareness. Understanding repressed and suppressed emotions matters because both can cause problems when they become ongoing patterns, even though neither is a formal diagnosis.

Why do we suppress emotions?

Suppressing emotions can be a way to feel safer, avoid conflict, or navigate social situations. For many people, it’s a learned coping skill. A mix of social, developmental, cultural, and psychological factors can contribute to this pattern.

Some of the most common reasons include:

  • Early environment, upbringing, and trauma: Your family can model this way of dealing with emotions. Research also links childhood mistreatment and emotional invalidation to higher rates of suppression later in life.
  • Cultural or social expectations: Norms and expectations from your environment can impact emotional suppression. Cultural beliefs can influence more or less suppression. One study of 23 countries found that cultures which emphasized order and hierarchy tended to see more emotional suppression. 
  • Gender norms: People of any gender are taught ways to manage emotions while growing up. The American Psychological Association says that boys have often been taught concepts of masculinity that limit their emotional expression. One study found that women in the workplace conform to social rules that encourage them to highlight positive emotions and suppress negative emotions. 
  • Fear of being a burden: You may carry a belief that you are a burden to others if you are sharing your emotions. “I don’t want to put that on them,” is a common phrase when feeling this way. While you may do it with good intentions to protect others, it often ends up impacting you more negatively in the long run. 
  • Workplace or performance pressure: Social norms in a work setting can influence emotional suppression. Some research has shown that a workplace setting can increase suppression by encouraging people to not offend or hurt others and to get along with everyone there. These are not always negative realities, but can be harmful if honest communication gets cut out completely. 
  • To stay safe: There are certain cases where it’s dangerous, inappropriate, or counterproductive to express your feelings. In these situations, temporary suppression can be helpful.

What happens when we suppress emotions?

While emotional suppression is a coping skill and can feel useful in the moment, the emotional impact of using it consistently over time can be significant. If used consistently over time, it becomes linked to mental and physical health effects. 

Mental and emotional effects

  • Increased anxiety or a persistent sense of unease: Research shows that emotional suppression and anxiety tend to fuel each other. Not expressing feelings can increase anxiety and increased anxiety can lead to sharing even less. 
  • Depression or emotional numbness over time: Shutting down emotionally over time can reduce positive emotional experiences and increase focus on negative thoughts, contributing to depression. Depression and emotional suppression can also impact each other. 
  • Difficulty identifying or communicating feelings: Difficulty naming what you are feeling is linked with emotional suppression. This can lead to greater emotional challenges. Over time, this can make it harder to ask for what you need or explain why you're struggling in relationships.
  • Strained relationships: Suppressing emotions can strain relationships over time. It can lead to pulling away from others, trouble communicating, and feeling like you don't deserve closeness.
  • Heightened stress reactivity: Research shows that people who limit their emotional expressions tend to have higher stress responses. This has been linked to higher stress hormone activity and points to potential physical health impacts over a long period of time.

Physical effects

  • Disrupted sleep: Unhelpful ways of managing emotions, such as suppression, have been linked to increased sleep issues and insomnia. 
  • Weakened immune function: Suppression can trigger stress and inflammation responses in the body, which may weaken immune function over time. Chronic suppression may be associated with poorer physical health.
  • Chronic tension or physical pain: Repressed anger and other unexpressed emotions can lead to increased pain in the body and ongoing muscle tension. This may be connected to the same stress and inflammation responses that suppression triggers elsewhere in the body.
  • Elevated blood pressure or cardiovascular risk: Suppression can lead to an increase in blood pressure and risk of heart issues. One study found that higher levels of emotional suppression were associated with up to 10% higher 10-year cardiovascular disease risk.

How to cope with negative emotions without suppressing them

If suppression has been your go-to for handling difficult feelings, it may be time to try something different. The following options are not a self-therapy guide, but some starting points for relating to emotions in a different way. 

  • Naming the emotion: Identifying and putting a label on your emotion can help reduce emotional activity in the brain and calm emotions. It can help you shift from reacting to your emotions to responding to them more intentionally. If you’ve never done this before, a feelings wheel can be a helpful tool to support naming your emotions. 
  • Allowing without acting: Noticing challenging emotions without judging them or reacting to them can have a lot of benefits. It can reduce depression and anxiety symptoms, decrease overthinking, and improve life satisfaction. For instance, noticing 'I feel angry right now' without judging, immediately lashing out, or withdrawing gives the emotion room to pass on its own.
  • Journaling: Expressing emotions through consistent writing has been shown to have benefits. It can make it easier to manage emotions and help reduce symptoms of mental health conditions. 
  • Talking to someone trusted: Social interactions and conversations with trusted people about what you’re going through can reduce emotional distress. 
  • Physical movement: Higher levels of walking, exercise, and physical movement can improve your ability to regulate emotions. It can also help make emotions not feel as overwhelming. 
  • Working with a therapist: Finding a therapist who feels safe and asks the right questions can be a great step away from suppression. Many therapists can work with you to help you identify and express your emotions in healthy ways. When suppression patterns have been going on for a long time and likely tied to trauma or mental health conditions, talking with a professional can be important to assist you in making decisions about the best type of support you need.  

Therapy techniques for suppressed emotions

There are therapies that can be particularly helpful for dealing with emotional suppression. This is true especially if you are dealing with trauma and mental health conditions that are connected to your emotional suppression. Here are some of the most helpful options:

  • Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): CBT focuses on identifying the connection between thoughts, actions, and emotions. It helps to reframe unhelpful thoughts that are causing negative emotions. It’s highly effective in helping with depression and anxiety, but has also shown some benefits to reducing emotional suppression. 
  • EMDR: When there’s trauma or PTSD related to emotional suppression, EMDR can be a great option. It works by processing specific traumatic memories to reduce the distress they carry. Evidence shows it is one of the most effective treatments for PTSD.  
  • Psychodynamic therapy: This method of therapy is focused on helping you identify defense mechanisms and patterns, such as suppression. It uses the relationship with the therapist, developing insight, finding connections between past and present experiences, and challenging emotional avoidance as the main interventions. It can be helpful for reducing symptoms of mental health conditions. 
  • Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT): ACT helps you stop fighting or avoiding your internal experiences. Rather than trying to eliminate uncomfortable feelings, it teaches you to accept them and act in line with your values anyway.
  • Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT): Emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and mindfulness are some of the core focuses of DBT. These practical tools can help improve overall emotion regulation and reduce suppression.

Working with a licensed mental health provider is the best way to determine the types of support best for you. It can be difficult to make these choices on your own. 


The right therapist can help you work through it

If you’ve noticed a pattern of suppressing your emotions, you’ve taken the first step toward change. That awareness is valuable — and the next step is finding someone who can help you build on it.

With Headway’s directory, it’s easy to search for the right match. You can easily find in-network providers, see upfront pricing, and book instantly. Start your search today.

This content is for general informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute clinical, legal, financial, or professional advice. All decisions should be made at the discretion of the individual or organization, in consultation with qualified clinical, legal, or other appropriate professionals.

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Mental health conditions