Anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and depression dramatically increased worldwide during the Covid-19 pandemic. People with these conditions experience distressing intrusive thoughts yet conventional therapies often urge them to avoid suppressing their thoughts because intrusions might rebound in intensity and frequency, worsening the disorders.

In contrast, Zulkayda Mamat and Michael Anderson from the MRC CBU, hypothesized that training thought suppression would improve mental health. 120 adults from 16 countries underwent 3 days of online training to suppress either fearful or neutral thoughts.

No paradoxical increases in fears occurred. Instead, suppression reduced memory for suppressed fears and rendered them less vivid and anxiety provoking.

After training, participants reported less anxiety, negative affect, and depression with the latter benefit persisting at 3 months. Participants high in trait-anxiety and pandemic-related post-traumatic stress gained the largest and most durable mental health benefits.

These findings challenge century-old wisdom that suppressing thoughts is maladaptive, offering an accessible approach to improving mental health.

The full paper can be read here: Mamat, Z, and Anderson, MC. Improving Mental Health by Training the Suppression of Unwanted Thoughts. Sci Adv; 20 Sept 2023; DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adh5292

The University of Cambridge press release can be read here: Suppressing negative thoughts may be good for mental health after all, study suggests