Thought suppression across time: Change in frequency and duration of thought recurrence

Abstract

Some studies have found that trying to suppress thoughts increases their long-term recurrence, a phenomenon associated with psychopathology, particularly obsessive-compulsive disorder. However, effect sizes in thought suppression studies have often been small and inconsistent. The present study sought to improve thought suppression conceptualization and measurement by examining two distinct dimensions of thought recurrence – frequency and duration of a thought’s return – and how they evolve over time. After a thought focus period, 100 adults were assigned to either suppress or monitor the recurrence of an unpleasant thought for 4 min. Then, during a second four-minute period, all participants were asked to monitor the thought’s recurrence. Hierarchical linear modeling indicated that thought frequency declined across time and the rate of decline slowed as time went on. Initially, the extent of thought duration remained short and stable for those asked to suppress, and increased linearly over time for those asked to monitor. Later, this pattern reversed. Duration increased linearly for those initially asked to suppress but was short and stable for those who initially monitored. Accounting for change over time and means of measuring recurrence (frequency vs. duration) may help elucidate past mixed findings, and improve thought suppression research methodology.

Effects of control strategies on the activation of unwanted intrusive thoughts in elite athletes.

“…The present thought monitoring task is similar to that of Lambert et al (2014) and was programmed in Matlab using Psychophysics Toolbox (Brainard, 1997). Specifically, participants were instructed to monitor their minds for 5 minutes in both the intervention and postintervention phase.…”

“…The event-marking procedures can be either overt (ringing a bell;Wegner et al, 1987) or covert (pressing a key;Lambert et al, 2014).2 Wegner and Smart (1997) actually used the term "accessibility," which is similar to the concept of priming. Priming was used here for simplicity and even Wegner and colleagues chose this term in their later writing(Sparrow & Wegner, 2006).CONTROL OF UNWANTED INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS IN ATHLETES…”

“…1The event-marking procedures can be either overt (ringing a bell; Wegner et al, 1987) or covert (pressing a key; Lambert et al, 2014). …”

Method of Streamlining Thoughts for Physically Challenged People

“…Levine and Warman [7] investigated strategies for managing the intrusive thoughts like blasphemous, sexual, and violent. Lambert et al [8] analyzed the thought recurrence frequency and duration of thought return. In another poem, Thiruvalluvar wrote about thought as follows:…”

Ageing and thought suppression performance: Its relationship with working memory capacity, habitual thought suppression and mindfulness

“…In addition, intrusions during active suppression have yet to be studied in older samples. Intrusion frequency has been the most widely investigated variable in thought suppression research, although some studies have investigated intrusion duration (Koster, Rassin, Crombez & Näring, 2003;Lambert, Hu, Magee, Beadel, & Teachman, 2014) and behaviour (Erskine, Georgiou, & Kvavilashvili, 2010). The current study sought to assess intrusion frequency during active suppression as the outcome measure of interest.…”