Prediction of Emotional Repression based on Alexithymia and Type D Personality in Cardiovascular Patients

Introduction: Cardiovascular disease is one of the causes of mortality in the world, which psychological factors play an important role in its occurrence and exacerbation. This study aimed to investigate the prediction of emotional repression based on alexithymia and type D personality in cardiovascular patients. Methods: Participants were 100 patients with coronary artery disease selected through accidental sampling from the patients undergoing treatment at Rajaee Heart Hospital in Karaj City and completed TAS-20, DS14 and ECQ questionnaires. The validity and reliability of all three questionnaires have been confirmed in domestic and foreign studies. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16 Software and Pearson correlation, Multiple regressions. Results: The correlation results showed that there was a significant relationship between alexithymia and personality type D with emotional repression in the cardiac patients at the level of 0.05, and the results of multivariate regression results showed that alexityymia and personality type D did not predict emotional repression. Conclusion: Alexithymia, personality type D, and emotional repression are risk factors for the development and exacerbation of cardiovascular disease.

The Burning Love in the Poetry of Emily Dickinson

As a distinguished female poet, Emily Dickinson is considered to write many love poems in her life time. This paper attempts to understand the burning love through the implicit and explicit representation in her love poems. Through the use of the binary opposition and the bold description of the sexual affairs between lovers, the yearning for love is represented in her poems. Whether it is implicit or explicit description, the inequality between the male and the female is fully represented through Dickinson’s love poems. The female not only suffered the emotional repression in a love relationship, but also is reduced to the subordinate social status in every aspects of the Victorian society.

Codependency in the Relations of Couples of Imprisoned Women

Female criminal behavior has sparked the interest of many researchers who, from different perspectives, have tried to identify what are the factors that lead them to commit a crime. Studies indicate that female affective bonds change into a potentiator of crime behavior and/or withdrawal of it. The objective of this study was to find out if the couple’s bonds (previous or during the prison) were codependent, and to analyze the possible relation between the latter and female crime. This qualitative study used mixed tools in a sample of 27 women in the Bucaramanga prison (Colombia). The I-CO instrument was applied analyzing the four codependency factors: (1) denial mechanisms; (2) incomplete identity development; (3) emotional repression and (4) rescue orientation. The qualitative data obtained through the in-depth interview and focus groups were also analyzed, showing mainly three emerging categories: (1) I did it for him; (2) Although he doesn’t love me; and (3) I preferred to remain silent. The results suggested the difficulty of leaving violent relationships and the possible interaction between codependency, violent partner relationships and female crime. This research raises the need to strengthen the empowerment of women inside and outside the prison.

The Manifestation of Monster and the Emotional Repression in Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook (2013)

The purpose of this research is to explore the emotional state of the main character, Amelia, in The Babadook film. The film portrays how Amelia deals with her loss and how the monster Babadook represents the repressed feeling of loss. This research analyses the emergence of the Babadook, how it affects her, and how her behaviors are considered as melancholia by using qualitative method and the theory of psychoanalysis, Mourning and Melancholia by Sigmund Freud (1917). The research finds that the eerie monster haunts Amelia whenever she is confronted to her repressed emotion: grief and self- loathing. The Babadook monster is the manifestation of grief and loss. As the monster getting stronger, the sinister presence of the Babadook starts to affect Amelia’s psyche as she is getting more paranoid and more aggressive. She is also unable to show affection toward her son. Moreover, Amelia shows an act of self-destruct by keeping herself from the outside world and unconsciously blaming herself for the death of the husband. Those behaviors indicate that Amelia comes into the state of melancholia. Finally, she manages to overcome the state by accepting the feeling of loss and let herself mourn. The study of this film suggests a way of dealing with trauma and loss by accepting their permanent presence in life.

Emotional repression in patients with chronic inflammatory rheumatism

Background: This preliminary study was undertaken to assess and compare the psychological profiles of patients with chronic inflammatory rheumatisms (CIRs), rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or spondyloarthritis (SpA), to try to identify a particular emotional profile compared to patients without CIRs. Emotional repression, i.e., a tendency to inhibit the expression of negative feelings and/or unpleasant thoughts, has been the most studied. Methods: This monocenter observational pilot study included patients followed in a university rheumatology department who underwent systematic assessment of different psychological parameters by an experienced psychiatrist. The clinical and biological characteristics of their rheumatisms were collected. Comparisons were performed used Chi 2 or Fisher’s exact tests. Results: Fifty-nine patients were assessed: 47 with CIRs (27 RA and 20 SpA) and 12 non-CIR controls (nine osteoarthritis, and one each viral disease, osteoporosis or osteomalacia). The rates of severe emotional repression, and the rates of severe early life events, were higher in the group of CIR patients than in the control group (respectively P = 0.02, P = 0.02). In contrast, the rates of severe psychological and somatic complaints were significantly higher than in the control group (respectively, P <0.01 and P =0.01). Conclusion: Our results confirm the importance of emotional repression in coping with various traumatic life events which contribute to the etiology and/or evolution of CIRs. They suggest that these patients would probably benefit from psychotherapy in addition to medical management of their CIRs.

Maintaining Social Stability without Solving Problems: Emotional Repression in the Chinese Petition System

What role do emotions play in state repression? Building upon ethnographic observation in one Beijing petition bureau, this paper explores the emotional labour performed by grassroots officials to demobilize social dissent. The petition system serves as an official channel through which the Chinese government receives complaints and grievances from citizens. Notwithstanding its institutional inefficiency in addressing petitioners’ requirements, this system plays a critical role in maintaining social stability. I investigate the process by which frontline petition officials manage petitions. I argue that channelling petitioners’ emotions has become one of these officials’ core functions. Petition officials have developed three types of emotional strategies – emotional defusing, emotional constraint and emotional reshaping – to absorb petitioners’ complaints. This study of emotional repression offers a fresh perspective on the affective dimension of contentious politics and also contributes to the theoretical discussion on how authoritarian regimes deal with dissent.

Full Moon Masculinities: Masculine Werewolves, Emotional Repression, and Violence in Young Adult Paranormal Romance Fiction

Gothic monsters have recently experienced a period of focused scholarly analysis, although few studies have engaged with the werewolf in terms of its overt alignment with masculinity. Yet the werewolves of young adult fantasy fiction both support and subvert dominant masculine discourses through their complex negotiation with emotional repression and violence. These performative masculine practices are the focus of this article, which analyses how hegemonic masculine ideals are reinforced or rejected in a corpus of young adult fantasy texts, including Cassandra Clare's young adult series The Mortal Instruments (2007–2014) and Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga (2005–2010). Both texts feature masculine characters whose lycanthropic experiences implicitly comment upon gender norms, which may shape young adult audiences' understanding of their own and others' gender identities.