Does anybody know of any techniques or methods that don't involve drugs or surgery?
Talking about surgery and drugs indicates this is the sort of problem that needs professional help, like psychiatry. You are better off talking to someone who knows what they're doing than asking for help from random folks on the internet.
Seriously, get real help.
The mentioning of drugs and surgery was intended to be more preemptive rather than indicative. Sorry for any confusion.
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As a professional, my suggestion is to not suppress your emotions because that is part of the problem. I also echo receiving professional help and keep trying until you get the help you need but not necessarily the help you want.
If this is not for you and you are seeking advice for someone else, apply the above statement to them with modifications.
I really can't in good conscious "advise" anyone on how to do the one thing I'm constantly telling them not to do.
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I am not sure you can, really. Your emotions are part of you whether you like it or not. If it is a specific situation you are talking about, I would say it is important to a) keep the rest of your life in working order, i.e. Do not quit your job or the like, make sure you get enough sleep and food and some light exercise, b) make sure there is some kind of support you can turn to, c) be sodding sure you do not use drugs or alcohol. Usually when something has just happened, it is very fresh in your mind and you can do worse than distracting yourself with high-information activities like seeing an action movie or the like. In most circumstances, the feelings will grow easier to handle.
Of course, you shouldn't take this as a reason not to go to a psychiatrist. Even if it doesn't feel that way, it will most likely help you to do so.
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Without knowing which particular emotions are troubling you and why, I have to strongly recommend seeking a professional trained therapist's help. Even if they recommend some form of medication, temporary or long term, they are going to need you to work on whatever social, economic, and personal issues that are (over)driving your emotions.
Whether you can afford a therapist or not, see if there is a local or even online support group(s) that could help you. If not, lean on a friend or two. They don't have to have any solution for what's bothering you, so long as they just listen and let you unburden yourself. Don't keep them distant. And let them check in with you and help steer you back on track when you misstep or stumble... if you were perfect, you wouldn't be human.
If you can find productive hobbies/activities that can occupy your mind, please use them.
If you can set aside time on regular daily/every-other daily basis to exercise, even just walking, please do so. A quick walk around outside your workplace during your regular break is great. Likewise, pay close attention to what you are eating, and take a multivitamin if you have any doubts you might not be getting all your nutrients. If you can pick up some Omega 3/6/9 and Vitamin D supplements, give them a try for 30 consecutive days or so. You might be surprised just how much simple changes in nutrition and activity can help.
If there is some issue(s) troubling you, be honest with yourself about them, and don't beat yourself up for being a normal imperfect human.
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Trust me, suppression/disassociation and denial might buy you some time short term, but they always come due with heavy interest. It's far far better to deal now with whatever is bothering you, even if you have to break it up into manageable chunks and babystep through it.
Try reading a book on what you think the "issue" is. They are written by people who usually can relate and give you some pointers on dealing with it. Even if you don't get anything from the book, you are interested enough to read about it and be distracted anyhow. GL
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And while I can't be there in person, < HUGS >
Echoing get professional advice.
In the past I've had all sorts of problems as a result of being too in control of my emotions. I'm practically a world champion at bottling things up. I won't bore you with the details, but at one stage my marriage almost collapsed because of it. Another time I almost lost my job. Another time I did lose my job. And I can trace all of those back to excessive control of anger or fear.
In terms of general advice, it really helps to talk to someone. It also really helps to learn that nobody can ever, ever, EVER tell you how you feel. You might be feeling something inappropriate to the circumstance that spawned the emotion, but that doesn't change the existence of the emotion itself.
You might find that you can manage your emotions perfectly well if you have someone to talk to who will just listen and not offer any sort of advice (women work best for this: men generally want to fix things).
But your best bet to a long term solution to whatever problem you feel you have is to seek professional advice.
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As a professional, my suggestion is to not suppress your emotions because that is part of the problem. I also echo receiving professional help and keep trying until you get the help you need but not necessarily the help you want.
If this is not for you and you are seeking advice for someone else, apply the above statement to them with modifications.
I really can't in good conscious "advise" anyone on how to do the one thing I'm constantly telling them not to do.
+1
And while I can't be there in person, < HUGS >
+infinity
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As a professional, my suggestion is to not suppress your emotions because that is part of the problem. I also echo receiving professional help and keep trying until you get the help you need but not necessarily the help you want.
If this is not for you and you are seeking advice for someone else, apply the above statement to them with modifications.
I really can't in good conscious "advise" anyone on how to do the one thing I'm constantly telling them not to do.
This is kind of interesting. Years ago the definition of healthy was the ability to supress it (a male approach). Nowadays they're advising talking about it expressing it an actualizing it (whatever that last one means). I'm more than a little skeptical about the efficacy of talk therapy.
Walking/exercising used to help me a lot when i wanted to smash things. So did finding something that either could withstand a smashing or didn't no one minded being smashed.
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As a professional, my suggestion is to not suppress your emotions because that is part of the problem. I also echo receiving professional help and keep trying until you get the help you need but not necessarily the help you want.
If this is not for you and you are seeking advice for someone else, apply the above statement to them with modifications.
I really can't in good conscious "advise" anyone on how to do the one thing I'm constantly telling them not to do.
This is kind of interesting. Years ago the definition of healthy was the ability to supress it (a male approach). Nowadays they're advising talking about it expressing it an actualizing it (whatever that last one means). I'm more than a little skeptical about the efficacy of talk therapy.
Walking/exercising used to help me a lot when i wanted to smash things. So did finding something that either could withstand a smashing or didn't no one minded being smashed.
There is a difference between suppressing emotions and handling emotions (aka. not acting on them no matter what the cost).
As far as I know, the professional approach for quite some time has been 'accepting the emotion' which basically means 'knowing you have the emotion, knowing what the emotion means', but not 'acting on the emotions without taking reason, legality or other people into account'.
Bad-enough emotional trauma can leave your emotions suppressed or even "burned out," but since you're specifying no drugs or surgery, I assume that's out, too...
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Meditation.
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You can't rid yourself of emotions. Even if you manage to put them on a back burner, they're still there. Emotions are part of the human condition.
I find meditation and mindfulness techniques are helpful in giving you the sensation that emotions aren't controlling your every thought and action. One of the first steps is coming to terms with what is and isn't not controllable about your mind.
Something that's helpful is to understand what control means. I'll use a car as an analogy. When I'm driving a car, I am in control of it, but there are limits to that control. I can't make the car turn into it's weight in oranges for example. I can make it turn left. I can't control the car behind me. I can make a turn, or change speeds to try to create distance, but the other car can follow me. Despite my control of my car, other cars can crash into me as well. Being in control has limits.
Another analogy that's helpful is that of a river. If I'm an engineer, I can do a lot of things to control the river. I can build a damn. I can dredge out the bottom. I can even divert some or all of the water. What I can't do is change the physical properties or water or the nature of gravity. Water is still going to flow and the river is going to do what the river is going to do, namely continue to bring more water to the place I'm trying to control it at.
Both analogies are important. Like a river, your brain is going to do what your brain is going to do. Thoughts and emotions are going to come, you can't stop them. Like a car, you can control a lot of where your brain tries to go, but your control of things outside of your brain are limited.
Mindfulness can help you practice skills that gives you that control. It's not going to change what is in your brain, but you'll be able to influence and direct it better.
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Meditation.
damn good idea.
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A lot of good stuff.
A continuation of the river analogy is a dam. Through meditation and mindfulness, you can become aware of the emotions you're feeling and allow them a controlled release at safe times. Otherwise, they're going to break through at moments of maximum stress and you'll feel out of control.
I saw a reality show where one contestant was slammed for crying each week. Her response? Essentially: This is hard for me. I get frustrated and I let it out. Then I'm ready to buckle down and work.
I respect that. It's controlled release.
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I appreciate your words and will consider them.
And thanks for the internet hugs... At least I can't get implanted. I'm looking at you Ambrosia ;)
Here's a video for a couple of exercises.
I've been battling major depression most of my life. I had a suicide attempt in 2006 and been right on the edge (sometimes literally) several times since then, but that wasn't actually my low point of depression, which has basically continued on and off (more on than off) ever since then.
I know a lot of people have had good success with medication. I hate them. None of them have ever felt like they improved my mood at all. The side effects have been minimal for me, but I hate the process.
I've tried therapy, one on one and group to limited success. It helps, but I have a very difficult time opening up and really using the therapy. I'm getting better though.
Mindfulness though, has literally changed my life. It's done for me what I imagine people who have had success with medication experience. Like a giant weight or fog has been set aside and I can think and act again. It's not permanent, because I regularly have times where I start to feel depressed again. My mental habits just take me back there. So I have to practice mindfulness, I have to reinforce it as a skill and habit.
Specifically right now my dog, who has been with me for 12 years, is dying. It's slow and not happening tomorrow, but if he lives more than 6 more months I will be surprised. I get very attached to my dogs, so his impending death has taken a huge toll on me. I was quite worried that when he did pass, I would sink even lower in my depression, greatly increasing my risk of suicide.
Using mindfulness these past few weeks, I still feel that pain and impending loss, but I'm managing it better. It doesn't feel like it's consuming me every waking moment. Some days are better than others.
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There is a difference between suppressing emotions and handling emotions (aka. not acting on them no matter what the cost).
As far as I know, the professional approach for quite some time has been 'accepting the emotion' which basically means 'knowing you have the emotion, knowing what the emotion means', but not 'acting on the emotions without taking reason, legality or other people into account'.
I dunno. Taking the feelings, burying them in a deep dark hole and never thinking about them again seems to work better for me. I can't say I've ever felt better after trying to talk things out, it keeps whatever's bothering me at the forefront of my mind.
Meditation helps me manage my emotions, but I wouldn't say it's a panacea. My grandfather taught me to do it to take control of my rage and anger issues I've had since birth and redirect it into a more constructive energy source. It's worked for a long time, but my depression has been has been ratcheting up dramatically in the last two years, and it's making everyday functions, including meditation, a chore.
I can go to work and act "normal" and energetic with customers and my coworkers, but I suspect it's because I'm distracted when I'm there. At home, it's a different story. I find it hard to leave my house on my days off, much less leave the couch. Before I know it, the day is gone and the wasted day makes me feel even worse.
Therapy was also pretty helpful for me when I tried it back in 2009, but I changed jobs later that year and lost my insurance. I have insurance again now, so I really need to look into it again. I fully endorse giving it a shot if you're having troubles. I think I'm ready to talk to my doctor about trying medication, but I'm still not excited about the prospect, either.
I would certainly not suggest you "suppress" or "ignore" your feelings or emotions; they're important. My life-long battle with depression makes any emotion but fear, anxiety, and anger a chore to experience sometimes, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone.
I also send virtual hugs your way, buddy.
Excellent advice above, but meditation never worked for me.
I found that backpacking was the "meditative nirvana" for me because I was away from anything that could intrude for weeks at a time. As I tell people, you never know yourself as well as when you are forced to spend 8-12 hours a day with yourself for days or weeks at a time.
It requires preparation, time off from work, and a trusted friend (hike alone, but never camp alone). But it kept me at peace for perhaps the most 15-20 most tumultuous years of my life...
Meditation.
Yup.
this always helps me mellow out.
Stan Getz was the master.
It's kinda hard to tell if somebody needs help on the internet, so if that's an option/requisite, I'd wholeheartedly back it.
As I said... You can't "suppress" your emotions. That is the old lingo. It was how people thought emotions worked in the 70s. Everyone has traumas, and either they let the emotions about these out, or the suppressed thoughts will grow, and eventually there will be mental disorders. Since the advent of cognitive therapy, it is a theory that has largely been dropped, even though some people prefer it and keep supporting it even though there is little evidence for it. It makes as much sense as "suppressing your nose".
Our behaviour consists of emotions, thoughts and habits. These are interconnected, so that one situation leads to a certain emotion, which leads to a thought, which triggers a habit. The way to controlling this process, which is difficult and takes time, is to become aware of the progression. This lets you change the end result, the actions taken, though it takes time. About half a year, at minimum, in most cases. Doing this also requires you to be in decent shape mentally.
If you are going through a crisis due to something that happened, the proper cure is, as I said, keeping things in working order, making sure you have someone that can support you, and not drinking/doing drugs. During the bad parts at the beginning, there is nothing wrong with distracting yourself.
If you are depressed, and nothing feels meaningful anymore, you can't sleep and have lost your appetite, can't concentrate, keep blaming yourself and thinking in useless spirals, perhaps even with thoughts about death, you NEED to talk to a psychiatrist. Thinking and doing things right goes a long way, and various things like meditation, exercise and unloading to someone else may help, but depression simply prevents any of those things from working.
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I know a lot of people have had good success with medication. I hate them. None of them have ever felt like they improved my mood at all. The side effects have been minimal for me, but I hate the process.I've tried therapy, one on one and group to limited success. It helps, but I have a very difficult time opening up and really using the therapy. I'm getting better though.
Mindfulness though, has literally changed my life. It's done for me what I imagine people who have had success with medication experience. Like a giant weight or fog has been set aside and I can think and act again. It's not permanent, because I regularly have times where I start to feel depressed again. My mental habits just take me back there. So I have to practice mindfulness, I have to reinforce it as a skill and habit.
Specifically right now my dog, who has been with me for 12 years, is dying...
Using mindfulness these past few weeks, I still feel that pain and impending loss, but I'm managing it better. It doesn't feel like it's consuming me every waking moment. Some days are better than others.
Talk therapy works best when the therapist is at least as smart as you are. Good ones can be tough to find.
It may not work this way for you, but know that a lot of people don't notice a huge change when going on medication, they just notice it when going off- "I stopped taking my meds and suddenly everybody turned annoying and stupid, weird!'
Sorry to hear about your dog. :( If things get bad and the mindfullness alone doesn't work for a while, medication can be a temporary thing.
I'm interested to hear about using mindfullness techniques, though. My, ah, friend who has depression is horrible at monitoring his own mental status and even remembering happy things. Your techniques sound like they might help with that.
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I dunno. Taking the feelings, burying them in a deep dark hole and never thinking about them again seems to work better for me. I can't say I've ever felt better after trying to talk things out, it keeps whatever's bothering me at the forefront of my mind.
You mentioned taking walks (or was it exercising?) and smashing things that belonged to the category of "Things that it is socially acceptable to smash". Those are both perfectly good methods for dealing with things. We're not trying to tell you that you have to start acting like a hippy!
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Everyone has traumas, and either they let the emotions about these out, or the suppressed thoughts will grow, and eventually there will be mental disorders
This is worse than a little speculative. Its a priori denying the possibility of just burying the feelings and moving on.
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There is a difference between suppressing emotions and handling emotions (aka. not acting on them no matter what the cost).
As far as I know, the professional approach for quite some time has been 'accepting the emotion' which basically means 'knowing you have the emotion, knowing what the emotion means', but not 'acting on the emotions without taking reason, legality or other people into account'.I dunno. Taking the feelings, burying them in a deep dark hole and never thinking about them again seems to work better for me. I can't say I've ever felt better after trying to talk things out, it keeps whatever's bothering me at the forefront of my mind.
I haven't said anything about 'talking things out', nor have I said anything about 'burying you emotions'. Suppressing emotions, as far as I understand that concept is about trying not to feel the emotions at all, not even getting to the point where you bury the emotions you don't desire.
Since I was misunderstood completely earlier:
The old 70s theory was (That is, the now mostly abandoned theory that I do not hold to, that I think is useless):
"People have traumas, which cause emotions, and unless they talk about these and 'get to the root of the problem', these 'suppressed emotions' become mental disorders which are bad, mmmkay?"
In the decades since, research has shown more and more a consistent image that the development of mental disorders is complex and multifactorial. We know that emotions and memories are not suppressed, we know that simply not thinking about bad things can help, that emotions are states of mind that can be worked with directly, that there is little evidence that 'getting to the root of the problem' does anything except cost you a LOT in therapy bills, that genetics are a large factor, and so on.
It is an outdated theory. It doesn't explain many of the things we know today. Even so, it is a popular meme, and many people believe it even after all these years.
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Since I was misunderstood completely earlier:
The old 70s theory was (That is, the now mostly abandoned theory that I do not hold to, that I think is useless):
"People have traumas, which cause emotions, and unless they talk about these and 'get to the root of the problem', these 'suppressed emotions' become mental disorders which are bad, mmmkay?"
In the decades since, research has shown more and more a consistent image that the development of mental disorders is complex and multifactorial. We know that emotions and memories are not suppressed, we know that simply not thinking about bad things can help, that emotions are states of mind that can be worked with directly, that there is little evidence that 'getting to the root of the problem' does anything except cost you a LOT in therapy bills, that genetics are a large factor, and so on.
It is an outdated theory. It doesn't explain many of the things we know today. Even so, it is a popular meme, and many people believe it even after all these years.
Much like Freud.
I appreciate your words and will consider them.
And thanks for the internet hugs... At least I can't get implanted. I'm looking at you Ambrosia ;)
Chaos is the only sane response to an insane world.
Uh, yeah, about the implanting {blushes awkwardly}... around Tuesday-ish, you might get a small package that makes scratching and jibbering noises. Just gently put the package in the oven, latch the door, and set it on the self-cleaning cycle.
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It's because that approach ALWAYS bites you in the ass later on.Burying is just another way of saying suppression. You try to suppress your emotions they will burst out threefold stronger... or worse. The longer you suppress them, the bigger the blowout. And it will happen in the worst way, at the worst time.
How could you possibly know that? This is a claim to know whats going on in the heads of 7 billion people, as well as the fortune teller's trick of shifting a prediction into the future if it hasn't panned out in the present.
It's because that approach ALWAYS bites you in the ass later on.Burying is just another way of saying suppression. You try to suppress your emotions they will burst out threefold stronger... or worse. The longer you suppress them, the bigger the blowout. And it will happen in the worst way, at the worst time.
How could you possibly know that? This is a claim to know whats going on in the heads of 7 billion people, as well as the fortune teller's trick of shifting a prediction into the future if it hasn't panned out in the present.
How? My guess is a likely combination of intuition, personal experience, investigation, hearing personal accounts, etc.
In other words, there is enough evidence for someone to make this prediction even if may not apply to everyone. This is more of seeing actual data and making a prediction versus trying to set up some sort of self-fulling prophecy. I could be wrong, he could just be setting up some sort of "trick" but for what purpose?
Does anybody know of any techniques or methods that don't involve drugs or surgery?
If you are looking to suppress and control your emotions, go for meditation, a lot of reading and studies (the abstract can pull you out of the stressful day to day) and take up tea drinking and eating more healthy produce while assessing which friends are not helping you reach your desired emotional state.
I would suggest against getting professional advice, why support that industry and why pay for what you can do yourself? Honestly, the possibilities in personal development and controlling your emotions are so high, why pay someone and add the stresses of getting, paying for and performing for professional help.
Read more, meditate more, drink more tea.
Now some will say burying is terrible, suppression will harm you and it is no good! Well you know what you want; and there have been studies that found that sharing and talking about a problem magnified it. Like having a bad day yeah, you could relax and forget about it, or you could complain to all your friends and keep the negative events of the day alive and in your consciousness for days. Endlessly hammering your own mind with stress while complaining to others as to how bad your day was.
Yeah, good luck suppressing and controlling your emotions. It has worked for me over the years.
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It's because that approach ALWAYS bites you in the ass later on.Burying is just another way of saying suppression. You try to suppress your emotions they will burst out threefold stronger... or worse. The longer you suppress them, the bigger the blowout. And it will happen in the worst way, at the worst time.
How could you possibly know that? This is a claim to know whats going on in the heads of 7 billion people, as well as the fortune teller's trick of shifting a prediction into the future if it hasn't panned out in the present.
I agree with Norse, and this bursting if you suppress is an example of the steam-view of psychology, which dates back to Freud and has been discredited for a long time.
Burying can be a part of giving up worries and stressful concerns, allowing a person to move past a problem and be less burdened.
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I know a lot of people have had good success with medication. I hate them. None of them have ever felt like they improved my mood at all. The side effects have been minimal for me, but I hate the process.I've tried therapy, one on one and group to limited success. It helps, but I have a very difficult time opening up and really using the therapy. I'm getting better though.
Mindfulness though, has literally changed my life. It's done for me what I imagine people who have had success with medication experience. Like a giant weight or fog has been set aside and I can think and act again. It's not permanent, because I regularly have times where I start to feel depressed again. My mental habits just take me back there. So I have to practice mindfulness, I have to reinforce it as a skill and habit.
Specifically right now my dog, who has been with me for 12 years, is dying...
Using mindfulness these past few weeks, I still feel that pain and impending loss, but I'm managing it better. It doesn't feel like it's consuming me every waking moment. Some days are better than others.
Talk therapy works best when the therapist is at least as smart as you are. Good ones can be tough to find.
It may not work this way for you, but know that a lot of people don't notice a huge change when going on medication, they just notice it when going off- "I stopped taking my meds and suddenly everybody turned annoying and stupid, weird!'
Sorry to hear about your dog. :( If things get bad and the mindfullness alone doesn't work for a while, medication can be a temporary thing.
I'm interested to hear about using mindfullness techniques, though. My, ah, friend who has depression is horrible at monitoring his own mental status and even remembering happy things. Your techniques sound like they might help with that.
With medication, I never noticed anything going onto or off of them.
Mindfulness is about being aware of the present moment and not focusing on the past or future. If you think about some forms of mental illness (ex: depression, anxiety), they're often a focusing on the past of future. Worrying about what has happened, or what could happen, instead of focusing on what IS happening.
A mindfulness exercise is going to do just that in a very literal sense. Some exercises focus on breathing. You sit and just breath, while you catalog and analyze the physical sensations of breathing. This is fairly calming for the mind. It puts you in the present moment and more likely to deal with issues currently at hand, instead of past/future issues that can't be dealt with right now.
Practicing mindfulness will help you become more self-aware and very directly improve your friends ability to monitor their depression.
Now some will say burying is terrible, suppression will harm you and it is no good! Well you know what you want; and there have been studies that found that sharing and talking about a problem magnified it. Like having a bad day yeah, you could relax and forget about it, or you could complain to all your friends and keep the negative events of the day alive and in your consciousness for days. Endlessly hammering your own mind with stress while complaining to others as to how bad your day was.
I'm sure you've heard of a thing called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Have you heard of a thing called Post-Traumatic Growth?
A brief discussion involving the concept.
Dealing with an issue well is a good thing. Dealing with it badly is a bad thing.
In other words, there is enough evidence for someone to make this prediction even if may not apply to everyone. This is more of seeing actual data and making a prediction versus trying to set up some sort of self-fulling prophecy. I could be wrong, he could just be setting up some sort of "trick" but for what purpose?
How? My guess is a likely combination of intuition, personal experience, investigation, hearing personal accounts, etc.
This line of thinking is inured to evidence. If i say I just bottle it up and it eventually goes away (and I do), then he can argue that I am mentally ill or will be mentally ill at some point in the future. I'm not sure if there is, or even if it would be POSSIBLE to gather evidence for the position.
This line of thinking is inured to evidence. If i say I just bottle it up and it eventually goes away (and I do), then he can argue that I am mentally ill or will be mentally ill at some point in the future. I'm not sure if there is, or even if it would be POSSIBLE to gather evidence for the position.In other words, there is enough evidence for someone to make this prediction even if may not apply to everyone. This is more of seeing actual data and making a prediction versus trying to set up some sort of self-fulling prophecy. I could be wrong, he could just be setting up some sort of "trick" but for what purpose?
How? My guess is a likely combination of intuition, personal experience, investigation, hearing personal accounts, etc.
I understand your point, but I do often see younger adolescents who have experienced awful things and want no help. Now, as stated above, they are not guaranteed to have mental health problems but they do increase their chances without help. The inverse can also hold true as not getting the right help for you may in fact be harmful.
The truth of the matter is as you say, we may never know for an individual but there are usually worse consequences to bottling it up than to letting it out.
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understand your point, but I do often see younger adolescents who have experienced awful things and want no help. Now, as stated above, they are not guaranteed to have mental health problems but they do increase their chances without help.
The truth of the matter is as you say, we may never know for an individual but there are usually worse consequences to bottling it up than to letting it out.
How is it possible to know that though? You've got too many variables, not the least would be whether someone is inclined to keep it in or let it out could be related to a lot of other factors (Gender for example, men are more likely to try to keep it in and are also more likely to start shooting up post offices)
Well think of it this way. Many people come to my office due to bottling their emotions and experiencing mental health problems. By the act of having the emotional release that comes from talk therapy, many people have reduced symptoms.
Keep in mind I did not say everyone, but many. The issue is that while we in the mental health community can make good predictions of behavior we will never be right 100% of the time because of every person being a unique individual. There are parallels to medicine in this regard which is why there are several different medications for the same problems. Many doctors do not "know" what is wrong with you when you go see them but they make educated guesses based off of several factors that I have mentioned above and then recommend treatment.
Currently, in the field of mental health a prevailing theory is that bottled emotions are a cause of mental health problems and that letting those emotions out stands a good chance of reducing those problems. Again it doesn't work for everyone but it works enough that we can make a good prediction as to the outcome of things.
I could be more long winded about this using other examples if you desire.
What typically happens is that someone goes through something awful, they find a way to cope with it (let's say they don't develop PTSD) - and then, several years later, the first time they get a depression, they can't stop thinking about the awful experience they went through, and they feel they "were ruined" or "were destroyed" by this - depression makes you focus on stuff that happened ages ago. It's not uncommon that a depressed person will find him- or herself unable to stop thinking about some event in primary school where someone said something bad to them, or they said something bad to someone, twenty or more years ago. I guess this could be what people describe as "bottled up feelings growing into mental health problems". Doesn't make the depression a result of what they went through in primary school.
Well think of it this way. Many people come to my office due to bottling their emotions and experiencing mental health problems. By the act of having the emotional release that comes from talk therapy, many people have reduced symptoms.
Ok, but how do you measure the effectiveness of that therapy vs either continuing to bottle it up or say, re opening the school of stoicism and showing people how to keep bottling? The people bottling it up don't really led themselves for study because.. well they're not seeing anyone. There's no control group.
The opposite isn't fair either: its rare you find a mass shooter that wasn't in therapy therefore the therapy obviously isn't working (people that are that bad are more likely to wind up in therapy on their own, or via mandate)
I suppose the bottling version of therapy would be fishing.