EFFECTS OF SUPPRESSING THOUGHTS ABOUT EMOTIONAL MATERIAL

Concurrent and subsequent effects of suppressing versus expressing emo tional (anxious and depressing) and neutral material were investigated . Subjects either suppressed or expressed thoughts about an anxious, d epressing, or neutral target situation during an initial thought perio d. During the subsequent period, all subjects expressed thoughts about the same target situation. Analyses of thought content revealed that attempts to suppress the thought did not eliminate its occurrence. Dur ing the subsequent expression period, subjects in the initial expressi on condition displayed a significant decrease in statements about the target situation, indicating habituation, whereas subjects in the init ial suppression condition showed an increase. Variations in this gener al pattern were observed on the basis of the different emotional valen ces of the target situations.