Thought suppression appears to be a relatively ineffective and even counterproductive strategy for dealing with unwanted thoughts. However, the psychological processes responsible for unsuccessful suppression are still underspecified. One process that may be implicated is derived stimulus relations, which may underlie the formation of unintentional relations that act to hamper suppression attempts. To test this prediction, participants were trained and tested for the formation of three derived equivalence relations using a match-to-sample procedure. Subsequently, they were instructed to suppress all thoughts of a particular target word that was a member of one of the three relations and were also allowed to selectively remove words that appeared on a computer screen in front of them by pressing the space bar. Results showed, as predicted, that participants not only removed the to-be-suppressed stimulus, but also removed words in derived relations with that stimulus, thus showing transformation of suppression/interference functions via derived equivalence. The theoretical implications of this demonstration, including its potential as a model for a key psychological process involved in unsuccessful thought suppression, are discussed. Show
| What is Thought Suppression | Setting Free The White Bear | Negative Effects | Ironic Process Theory | Negative Effects | Effective Thought Suppression | Parents are probably familiar with the phrase “Just don’t think about it” and may have used it with their children on occasion to help them deal with their emotional thoughts. From a very early age, we teach children to suppress unwanted thoughts, especially those that upset them. “That is very unfair, but don’t think about it. Think about something else.” Did you know that this common form of mental control might set our kids up for mental health issues later in life? What is thought suppressionSuppression is the intentional inhibition of thought that a person does not want to think about. Individuals who suppress are aware that they are making such a choice. For example, after losing a soccer game, a child might suppress his sadness and smile in front of his friends. In a perfect world, thought suppression or emotional suppression would leave a person with no traces of their unwanted thoughts. However, psychologists found the opposite in studies1.  Setting Free The White BearIn 1987, Wegner et al. conducted a psychological research in which participants were told to either suppress or express thoughts about a white bear while thinking aloud about what passed their minds. In the second part of the experiment, participants were told to carry out another action different from their previous ones. Those who performed the suppression task during the first part need to express their thoughts about a white bear in the second part. Those who expressed before now suppressed that particular thought. It was found that the suppress-then-express group had significantly more thoughts about a white bear than the control group. This rebound effect is also known as the ironic effects or paradoxical effects of suppression2. In lieu of being suppressed, these thoughts became more prevalent, referred to as hyper-accessibility of the suppressed item. Psychologists have found that the suppressed thought often returns, intrudes, or intensifies following the effort to prohibit it. It seems the more a person consciously tries to suppress a thought, the more the suppressed thought returns to their mind. Suppression-related effects fall into three categories3:
Ironic process theorySuppressing a thought initiates two cognitive processes, one controlled and one automatic. The first step is to search for a distraction to avoid unwanted thoughts. This mental process is a conscious process. It uses cognitive resources to keep the found distraction in the stream of consciousness. Whenever the person needs to avoid thinking of the thought, this cognitive process is initiated to distract the person. The second step is to notice the unwanted thought. This is an automatic process that runs outside of awareness even though it is triggered by intentional suppression. Together, these two processes suppress a target thought. The automatic process continuously looks for a match for the target thought. If it finds the thought, the controlled process carries out the distraction. Ironically, by giving it a great deal of attention, the very act that is initiated to stop a targeted thought enhances it. This search-and-match process makes the person continually sensitive to the very thought that is unwanted and cues associated with it4. People are most affected by paradoxical effects when they have a lot of information to process, which increases their cognitive load. Negative effects of suppressionThought suppression is found to be a key contributor to mental disorders such as such as depression, anxiety disorder, panic attack, and obsessive-compulsive disorder5. Exposure to a traumatic event can result in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Because of fear conditioning, distressing thoughts and intrusive memories of traumatic experiences are prevalent among those with PTSD, despite repeated efforts to suppress them. The paradoxical effect shows that avoidant thought control strategies can backfire because they lead to the mental activity one wants to avoid. The recurrent thought is often vivid, persistent, and distressful for individuals suffering from psychological disorders6. People who suffer from unwanted intrusive thoughts may engage in self-injurious behavior, suicidal ideation, or suicidal attempts to cope with them7. Effective thought suppressionOver the years, different suppression strategies have been devised to address the negative health effects of suppressing. Here are some approaches that show promising results8. Focused distractionFocused self-distraction involves distracting yourself with one specific distractor every time unwanted intrusions arise. This practice has been found to significantly dampen intrusive thoughts. Research shows that focused distraction leads to less distress than an unfocused distraction for people with obsessive compulsive disorder. Stress and load avoidanceWhen a person is stressed with more mental loads, they seem to lose focus on the strategies that might facilitate a successful suppression. Attempts to suppress thought can be undermined by mental demands like remembering things, multitasking, or simply reacting to pressure. Avoiding stress and mental load can aid in suppressing unwanted negative thoughts. Thought postponementThe postponement of thoughts can be used as an alternative to suppression. The goal of this technique is not to permanently banish unwanted thoughts from the mind forever. Instead, the thought is assigned a worry period, a dedicated half hour each day, for the mind to think about it. Meanwhile, watch for intrusive thoughts, postpone the items until that period, and focus on the present. Meditation, Mindfulness, and Focused BreathingBeing mindful involves being present in the moment. By focusing on being here now, automatic thoughts are silenced. Meditation and focused breathing are two forms of mindfulness. Both have been found to be an effective strategy in suppressing thoughts. Acceptance and commitment therapyInstead of experiential avoidance, acceptance and commitment treatment guides people toward accepting unwanted or emotional thoughts and recognizing this is a difficult path that requires serious commitment. References
What is paradoxical effect in psychology?The process of consciously trying to avoid certain thoughts is referred to as thought suppression. Experimental research has documented that thought suppression may have paradoxical effects in that it leads to an increased frequency of the to-be-suppressed thought intruding consciousness.
What is the rebound effect of thought suppression?In early investigations researchers demonstrated that the suppression of a particular thought often resulted in the subsequent increased return of the unwanted thought, a phenomenon termed the 'rebound effect' (Wegner et al., 1987).
Why is thought suppression said to be paradoxical?The paradoxical effect of thought suppression is that it produces a preoccupation with the suppressed thought. These findings suggest that the task of suppressing a thought is itself difficult, leading people to hold the thought in consciousness repeatedly even as they try to eliminate it.
What is thought suppression in psychology?Thought suppression is a psychological defence mechanism. It is a type of motivated forgetting in which an individual consciously attempts to stop thinking about a particular thought. It is often associated with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD).
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The paradoxical effects of thought suppression have been linked to psychological disorders such as
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