A neuroimaging study led by Philippe R. Goldin of Stanford University, published in the journal Biological Psychiatry and reported by Eurekalert, compared two common strategies for dealing with distressing emotions. One is known as “cognitive reappraisal”, meaning that you think about the scene in a different way in order to cope with it; the other is “expressive repression”, that is, trying not to react outwardly – keeping a “stiff upper lip”, putting on an acceptable mask.
The Mask by Claudia Meyer (St Germain en Laye) France
Unsurprisingly, to me anyway, cognitive reappraisal has expressive repression beaten in terms of reducing the brain’s actual response to the distressing circumstance (15-second videos of surgical procedures, the slaughter of animals, and vomiting, in the experiment). The participants were monitored using functional magnetic resonance brain imaging and their faces were also filmed.
The scientists noted that previous studies have shown increased physiological consequences from the expressive repression strategy, and remark:
This suggests that successful expressive suppression may be achieved in emotionally challenging situations but at a cost, namely, sustained activation that may be physiologically taxing and lead to disturbances in psychological and physical functioning.
They also reported that the experience of negative emotion was more effectively reduced by cognitive reappraisal.
What does this all mean? Well, basically, that paying attention to what is causing you emotional upset and thinking about it is going to work better as a strategy than just pretending that you don’t feel the emotions. This is a point I’ve made before, in The number one technique you need to change your life and One simple step towards managing your emotions.
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