University Psychology Article Review Essay on Thought Suppression

This essay provides a comprehensive review of an article discussing the psychology of thought suppression, focusing on the work of Wegner (2015). The essay begins with an introduction to psychology and its relevance to understanding the human mind and behavior. It then summarizes the main points of the article, which explores the deliberate suppression of thoughts and its potential link to psychological issues like depression and anxiety. The review delves into the effects of suppressing thoughts, particularly in the context of traumatic experiences, and examines the consequences of willful suppression of depressive thoughts. The essay also discusses the clinical implications of the ideas presented in the article, including the use of therapies and practical applications for individuals. The conclusion reiterates the impact of thought suppression on mental health and suggests that mental exercises and activities can help manage depressive thoughts. The essay includes a paraphrase of a key quotation from Wegner's article and provides a list of cited references.

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY - ARTICLE REVIEW ESSAY
PSYCHOLOGY - ARTICLE REVIEW ESSAY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
Psychology refers to the scientific study of the human mind. The subject further deals
with the functions of the human mind that deal with the specific behavioral conditions that are
known to affect the human being in a certain given context. The psychological studies majorly
concentrate on the working of the human mind and the implications of those activities. The
attempt at shutting down the thought processes of the brain helps in treating the depression of
the concerned person.
The provided article deals with the review of the given article in discussion. The
following essay aims to discuss the human psyche and the operations of the human mind. The
following essay discusses the concepts that are revealed within the given research article. The
essay further proceeds to summarize the given article in light of the research outcomes. The
essay nears its conclusion with the discussion on the several applications of the ideas that are
derived from the article. The discussion aims to shed light on the applications of the research
outcomes on the practical life situations.
Summary of the main points from the article
The article by Wegner (2015) entitled “When you put things out of mind, where do they
go?”, attempts a discussion on the matters that are related to the deliberate suppression of the
thoughts in a chronic manner. The results of the article suggest that the people who have been
involved in the deliberate suppression of the thoughts that result from the distress and the
depression are known to be more vulnerable to the psychological factors like the depression and
anxiety. The author of the article opines that the concerned link that have been discussed is also

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known to have been found in the people who have been suffering from the psychological issues
like depression, anxiety and other such issues.
The author suggests that the deliberate actions in order to deal with the repulsion of the
thoughts from the human brain often leads to the conditions wherein the person is observed to
have more thoughts on the concerned topic. The given article reveals the fact that the deliberate
attempts to drive thoughts away might lead the brain to concentrate more eagerly on the matter.
According to Smith (2017), this results in the conditions wherein the given person is observed to
be thinking more about the given matter rather than the other issues that might need to be
concentrated on.
Effects of suppressing thoughts
The article further reveals that the children or even the adolescents who have been a part
of traumatic experiences are known to have been suffering majorly from the post traumatic stress
disorders in cases wherein the concerned person has been seeking refuge in the process of the
thought suppression. The thought suppression of the concerned person results in several
psychological issues and might also lead to severe consequences. The article further states that
though it is observed that the suppression of the thoughts might lead to depressing conditions as
well as other problems related to the psyche of the concerned person, however, the suppression
of the thoughts cannot be held solely responsible for the psychological disturbances that are
faced by the person.
Consequences of willful suppression of depressive thoughts
The author of the article further suggests that the willful suppression of the depressive
thoughts of the concerned person might lead to major consequences for the concerned person as

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well. The article suggests few measures that might be implemented in order to help the people
who have been suffering from psychological issues. The article states that hypnosis might be
adopted as one of the measures in order to help the people who have been suffering from the
issues that are related to the depression. The author suggests that the people who have been
suffering from such issues should be treated so that they might be able to overcome their normal
tendency of suppressing the thoughts (Wegner, 2015). This in turn might help them to revive
their normalcy and at the same time help them to actually put an end to the never-ending cycle of
depression and the suppression of the facts (Huang & Dalton, 2015).
Depression: A psychological disturbance
Wegner (2015) in the article entitled “When you put things out of mind, where do they
go?” attempts a discussion on deliberate suppression of thoughts in a chronic manner. The given
article reveals the fact that the deliberate attempts to drive thoughts away might lead the brain to
concentrate more eagerly on the matter. This results in the conditions wherein the given person is
observed to be thinking more about the given matter rather than the other issues that might need
to be concentrated on. The article further states suppression of the thoughts cannot be held solely
responsible for the psychological disturbances that are faced by the person. The article suggests
few measures that might be implemented in order to help the people who have been suffering
from psychological issues.
Application of ideas
The article is helpful for the individuals in terms of gaining an insight into the clinical
implications of the ideas implemented. According to the opinions of Wegner, (2015) an insight
into this aspect helps in assessing the emotional outbursts and the control, which needs to be

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applied. The practical experiment of people staring out of the window relates with the normal
behavioral tendencies of the individuals. This staring can be considered as a lamentation for
escape, which they want from the worldly responsibilities. This escape, in turn, is an impulse,
driving them away from the responsibilities.
Therapies are effective in terms of delving deep into the mindset of the individuals. Tests
and experiments within the therapies would be effective in assessing the capability of the
individuals towards responding to the events in the surroundings. Wegner, (2015) is of the
opinion that the trainers can maintain tracks of the progress exposed by the clients, which is
helpful for developing effective measures for controlling the behavioral expressions of the
individuals.
Conclusion
In lieu of the above discussion, it might be derived that the attempt at shutting down the
thought processes of the brain helps in treating the depression of the concerned person. Thus, it
might be concluded that the deliberate suppression of the thoughts that result from the distress
and the depression are known to be more vulnerable to the psychological factors like the
depression and anxiety. However, this condition might be resolved with the implementation of
several mental factors that aim to occupy the human mind. Thus, it might be opined that the
depressing thoughts of the human being might be treated with the help of mental exercises and
activities like hypnosis and meditation.
Quotation

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“When thoughts make us anxious, sad, disgusted, afraid, or worse, we try to keep them at
bay. Freud suspected that suppression might involve both conscious efforts and unconscious
forgetting, which he called repression.” (Wegner, 2015)
Paraphrase
Wegner (2015) opines that people tend to deliberately push away their thought during the
situations that tend to instill fear, disgust, sorrow, anxiety and other such unwelcome feelings.
The author further states that Freud had further stated that the activity of suppression involves
both unconsciously forgetting as well as making deliberate efforts to forget the concerned factor.
Repression, according to Freud refers to the unconscious forgetting on the part of the human
beings.

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References
Huang, L., & Dalton, A. N. (2015). Motivated Forgetting Following Social Identity Threat.
In The Psychology of the Asian Consumer (pp. 35-38). Routledge.
Smith, J. (2017). The Third Helper: Thoughts. In Psychotherapy (pp. 215-220). Springer, Cham.
Wegner, D. (2015). When you put things out of mind, where do they go? In M. A. Gernsbacher
& J. R. Pomerantz (Eds.), Psychology and the real world (pp. 122-128). New York, New
York: Worth.