Suppressing Your Emotions Causes Memory Loss? What You Need to Know

For those who don't have time to read the whole thing, here's a 30-second overview:

Suppressing your emotions causes memory loss by disrupting how the brain encodes and retrieves experiences. Bottling up feelings can lead to brain fog, poor focus, recall issues, and even dissociation. Learning actionable ways to safely express emotions can reduce stress and protect your cognition.

🧠 How Suppressing Emotions Affects Memory

When you push feelings back down/in instead of expressing them, your brain has to work harder.

Studies show that suppressing emotions can lower memory accuracy. Although suppression can be a necessary strategy at times, it also risks burdening your mind.

Stanford University researchers investigated whether people who were shown emotional images then were asked to keep their feelings hidden exhibited any difference in recall.

As it turns out, they did. Those who suppressed their feelings remembered the images less well later.

Another important study on over 1,000 adults in Finland uncovered that long‑term emotion suppression may even increase dementia risk. People who often hid their feelings had close to a five‑fold higher risk!

💬 Real Experiences Shared Online

People describe memory struggles linked to emotion suppression in forums like r/emotionalneglect and r/YSK:

“Everyone seems to have more memories from their youth than me. I have some memories but not many and the ones I have are fuzzy."

“It can mess with executive functioning. A lot of people with trauma get diagnosed/treated for ADHD when it’s actually your frontal lobe locking up due to your amygdala hijacking it. Fight or flight response is no joke."

These give indication as to how suppressing feelings (which is an understandable strategy during highly stressful or traumatic events) can lead to downstream effects on our memory over time.

🧪 Why Does This Happen?

1. Mental load increases

Hiding feelings long-term forces your brain to monitor your reactions more frequently, taking up cognitive energy. That extra work leaves fewer resources for encoding events.

2. Less emotional reinforcement

Emotion helps to cement memories, for better or worse. When you blunt emotional reactions due to suppression, it can weaken retention and limit future access/recall.

3. Stress hormones interfere

Constant suppression pushes your stress levels higher. Cortisol has a habit of disrupting attention and retrieval of long‑term memories.

Pretty much all of us have experienced times where we've felt super stressed. It's hard to think clearly during these moments.

📈 Long-Term Risks Of Emotional Suppression

• Poor everyday memory: Forgetting events, conversations, and more.
• Emotional disconnection: Memories become dry facts without feeling.
• Increased dementia risk in older adults who chronically suppress emotions.
• Trauma or dissociative amnesia may develop in more extreme cases.

📋 5 Steps to Preserve Memory by Letting Feelings Flow

1. Journal daily

Write your thoughts and feelings (just a few lines each evening is a good start). Processing emotion on paper helps lighten your mental load.

2. Pause and breathe

When you feel a strong rush of emotions, pause to take a few deep breaths and acknowledge to yourself what you feel. You don't have to fix it but don’t let it go completely unconscious.

3. Talk it through

Reach out to a trusted friend, family member, or a trained counsellor.

4. Use creative outlets

Draw, paint, or listen to music that matches your mood. Creative expression lets you get in touch with feelings in safer, more satisfying ways.

5. Practice mindfulness or meditation

Regular mindfulness moments through the day can help you notice feelings as they arise. Fear, frustration, hurt, joy, peace, and more.

This habit builds emotional awareness without suppression.

⚠️ When to Seek Help

If you notice any of the following, do consider talking to a mental health professional:

• Experiencing significant stress, anxiety, or symptoms tied to buried feelings
• Forgetting details about recent events or conversations frequently
• Feeling disconnected from memories or emotions
• Difficulty concentrating or learning new things
• Emotional numbness or detachment from life

✅ Key Takeaway

Suppressing your emotions causes memory loss by interfering with how the brain stores and recalls experiences.

In long-term suppression, more brain power must be spent to keep the emotion hidden (rather than expressing/processing it), which leaves less energy for memory consolidation.

Letting emotions flow safely in small ways every day may lead to a boost in memory, less mental strain, and support overall cognitive health.

Need some 1:1 help to process emotions in a safe environment? Subscribe to a plan at SuppressedEmotions.com.

Written by Declan Davey - Health Writer & Psychotherapist