Some are just natural "repressors" (unconsciously repressing memories of events) and studies have showed that these people also are good at suppression (consciously suppressing memories of events, both good and bad) and that this leads to reported low anxiety (though it is different from those that do not repress at all). Though being a "repressor" is somewhat related to alexithymia, autistics also seem to have more PTSD which is almost the opposite of repression. One of the symptoms of PTSD is avoiding things related to the original trauma.
So the people that do not talk about buylling etc are more likely to be autistic (alexithymic/repressors) and/or have been traumatized by it (or they choose not to identify with bad events).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19859847 wrote:
During the last three decades there has been substantial research exploring the repressive coping style as defined by Weinberger, Schwartz, and Davidson. As "repressors," who score low on trait anxiety and high on defensiveness, account for up to 50% of certain populations, they are an essential group for psychologists to study. However, there are methodological issues in identifying repressors as well as considerable evidence that repressors avoid negative self-relevant information.
[...] Possible future directions of research are discussed including: the need for systematic empirical research of a new theory of repressive coping--the Vigilance-Avoidance Theory--more longitudinal health studies, and an in-depth exploration of the physiological mechanisms which may underlie repressive coping.
(Be prepared that they do not have a kind view of repressors, but I hope this can help someone:)http://www.angriesout.com/grown16.htm wrote:
Sigmund Freud said, "The ego expels whatever within itself becomes a source of displeasure." A defense mechanism is a habitual behavior that distorts reality to suppress thoughts and emotions that might bring up ego threat. Defense mechanisms function in life to help us deal with stress. However, the defenses keep people from being real and living life to the fullest.
Repression is a defense mechanism first described by Sigmund Freud, as a way that people keep unpleasant memories out of their conscious mind. Repression is a compensatory style that deals with threat and stress by blocking unpleasant emotional experiences that might bring up anxiety, distress and vulnerability. Being split off from feelings is called alexithymia. Repressors have a chronic inaccessible filter that keeps them from experiencing the world through their emotions. They feel attacked and then distance and isolate from others when they are stressed. They avoid talking about and rehashing unpleasant experiences as this adds to their stress. They become emotionally inaccessible to others when they feel the problem has been solved by their solution of dismissing it. They are conflict avoidant and cannot tolerate working things out to the satisfaction of their partner. They often deny that there is a problem and have a lack of insight about how their distancing bothers others.
Repressors have one emotion--from A to A. They can feel and express anger. Anger is a substitute emotion for the hurt and disappointment they might feel. Anger takes them out of the emotional flat line and becomes their dominant emotion. They are stressed by having to deal with others on an emotional level and change the subject or evade the issue to keep people who are upset from bothering them. They tend to be more aggressive and have a higher belief in themselves than most people. On the positive side, Repressors are often less neurotic than those who express their feelings easier. As they value the intellect, they can see events objectively without pesky emotions clouding up the issue.
Research show that repressors remember fewer negative experiences from childhood. By minimizing the unhappy events, they distort reality and can even believe they had a happy childhood when they did not. The research literature suggests that they protect themselves from discomfort by superficially taking in negative events. They spend less time processing unpleasant new events and have the ability to dismiss them. This defense allows them to experience unpleasant emotions less frequently than emotionally intense people. The research says that people who cannot feel the more vulnerable emotions do not form associations between negative experiences and internal arousal such as anxiety. They need repeated trials to link a negative experience with negative emotions. The research literature suggests that repressors have a lack of emotional links in the brain that tie negative emotions to experiences.
People who repress their feelings view themselves as "thinkers" and proudly use their intellect to process information. Talking and problem solving take preference over feelings. They can be highly analytical like Mr. Spock of the Starship Enterprise. They often intellectualize which is trying to explain emotionally painful feelings through thought. Sometimes they feel superior over people who are more emotional and dismiss this style of dealing with stress. Often they put people down who are emotional. They just don't "get" feelings and talking things out!
Since they do not process their own emotions, they don't have a clue when it comes to understanding emotions in others. They are lacking in empathy and cannot put themselves is others' emotional shoes.
They do the worst with partners who are highly emotional and insist on sharing feelings and who try to make the Repressor responsible for their anxiety that remains when there is no clear-cut solution to the problem. They do best in relationships with a partner who leaves them alone and who does not insist on their engaging in continual emotional discussion. They do best of all with a partner who does not need immediate closure on problems and has the ability to sweep conflict under the rug, however that rarely happens as they more likely to choose partners who are in touch with their feelings.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20850484 wrote:
In this study of 49 undergraduate university women, those exhibiting a repressive coping style - characterized by defensiveness against negative emotions - were compared to women with low-anxious and high-anxious coping styles during neutral and negative versions of a computerized emotional Stroop task (EST). Using Weinberger, Schwartz, and Davidson's (1979) approach, the present study implemented the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability and the Spielberger Trait Anxiety scales for selection. Participants viewed neutral or negative words during the EST but responded to the color of the word. Analysis of continuous EEG recordings for the negative vs. neutral words revealed that the repressor group differed significantly from the other two groups in many aspects but that low- vs. high-anxious groups differed in fewer aspects. Based upon Eysenck and Derakshan's (1997) model, repressor women appear to differ from low- and high-anxious women by utilizing an inhibitory process to avoid perceiving low-intensity threatening stimuli.
So repressors perceive less threatening stimuli to begin with, not just in memories.
Last edited by Anomiel on 24 Jun 2013, 7:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
24 Jun 2013, 5:50 am
