Cambridge, September 21, 2023 — In a groundbreaking study conducted by the University of Cambridge, the traditional belief that suppressing negative thoughts is detrimental to mental health has been called into question. Researchers at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit found that not only did suppressing fearful thoughts make them less vivid, but it also resulted in participants experiencing an improvement in their mental well-being.
Contrary to the widely accepted clinical perspective that suppressing negative thoughts may lead to their resurgence, the study revealed no significant “rebound” effect. In fact, participants who continued to employ the thought-suppression technique beyond the study period continued to benefit from enhanced mental health.
Key Findings:
– A University of Cambridge study demonstrates that suppressing fearful thoughts can reduce their vividness and contribute to improved mental health.
– The study shows no substantial “rebound” effect, with suppressed negative thoughts not returning with increased intensity.
– Long-term practice of thought suppression outside the study’s framework yields the most significant mental health benefits.
The study challenges the conventional belief that attempting to suppress negative thoughts can be harmful to one’s mental health. It has long been held that such suppression may result in these thoughts lingering in the unconscious mind, exerting a detrimental influence on behavior and overall well-being.
Professor Michael Anderson, leading the research, noted, “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 behavior and well-being perniciously.” He added, “These ideas have become dogma in the clinical treatment realm.”
The study, initiated as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic’s escalating mental health challenges, explored the concept of inhibitory control—the ability to override reflexive responses—in the context of memory retrieval. Researchers aimed to understand how inhibitory control could be applied to preventing the retrieval of negative thoughts when confronted with potent reminders.
Dr. Zulkayda Mamat, one of the study’s authors, explained, “Because of the pandemic, we were seeing a need in the community to help people cope with surging anxiety.” The study recruited 120 participants from 16 countries to investigate whether individuals could be taught to suppress fearful thoughts and whether doing so could benefit their mental health.
In the study, participants were asked to contemplate various scenarios related to negative fears and worries, positive hopes and dreams, and neutral events specific to their lives. They were then trained in thought suppression techniques for these scenarios over three days.
The results, published in Science Advances, indicated that participants who practiced suppressing fearful thoughts reported reduced vividness and emotional anxiety associated with these thoughts. Furthermore, they found themselves thinking about these events less frequently.
Notably, even participants with likely post-traumatic stress disorder who suppressed negative thoughts experienced significant improvements in their mental health, with a 16% reduction in negative mental health indices scores and an almost 10% increase in positive mental health indices scores.
The study also debunked the myth of a thought “rebound” effect, where suppressed thoughts return with increased intensity. Only a single participant out of 120 demonstrated higher detail recall for suppressed items post-training.
Professor Anderson concluded, “Although more work will be needed to confirm the findings, it seems like it is possible and could even be potentially beneficial to actively suppress our fearful thoughts.”
Crucially, many participants chose to continue practicing the technique outside of the study, with subsequent follow-ups confirming the persistent benefits of reduced depression and negative emotions, particularly for those who continued the practice in their daily lives.
As the study challenges conventional wisdom regarding thought suppression and mental health, further research may illuminate new avenues for managing anxiety and improving mental well-being.
