An unconscious defense mechanism that keeps disturbing thoughts, memories, or feelings buried outside conscious awareness.
From Latin 'repressio' meaning 'a pressing back,' from 'reprimere' (to press back). Central concept in Freudian psychoanalysis.
Repression is your unconscious mind locking painful memories in a vault — you don't even know they're there, but they still affect you.
Repression in psychology became gendered through Freud's framework, which pathologized women's sexuality and autonomy as 'repression.' This medicalized male authority over female bodies and emotion.
Use clinically (e.g., psychological mechanisms) without gendered assumptions about who 'should' express or control emotion.
["suppression","constraint (in technical contexts)"]
Women historically labeled 'repressed' for normal boundaries; men labeled 'restrained' for identical behavior. Recognize this asymmetry in diagnosis.
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