What happens if you bottle emotions

This slows digestion, resulting in gas, bloating, constipation, vomiting, and, occasionally, ulcers. Head and neck pain are one of the most common symptoms of bottled up emotions, largely because the stress of holding back causes muscles in the jaw to tighten, Lawrence explains. The corrugator muscles in the forehead and brow tighten in response to emotional stress, producing a frown, and a tight corrugator muscle is often a good indicator of stress throughout the entire body, psychologist Daniel Goleman told the New York Times.

And when these muscles tighten, you may experience reduced blood flow to the brain — the perfect recipe for a splitting headache. When more complicated feelings of sadness and shame are buried they can explode in the form of one of the most primitive and destructive emotions of all — anger. This may put you at an increased risk of heart disease. Not only that, this also leads to a lowered immune system functionality, risk of depression and chronic illnesses like heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes.

So, while it is important to acknowledge and express your emotions, the first step is to understand what kind of harm are you causing yourself by bottling up emotions. You end up feeling lonely When you bottle up your emotions you tend to cut yourself off from others, thus disconnecting from your friends. You feel anxious all the time Bottled up emotions find a way to come out in one way or the other. So, when you choose not to deal with what you are feeling, your mind tends to latch on to the fact that you are trying to deceive it.

This sense induces feelings of anxiety , thus making you feel perpetually anxious. You latch onto unhealthy coping mechanisms Anything in extreme is harmful. So, when you find yourself drinking, smoking , eating, or even working out excessively, know that your mind is trying to avoid the inflow of certain thoughts and emotions.

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Help us delete comments that do not follow these guidelines by marking them offensive. Let's work together to keep the conversation civil. Being an introvert is one thing. But forcefully suppressing your emotions and not letting people see through your trials and tribulations is just tollsome and tiring.

Isn't it? Surely, it must be frightening to open yourself up to people, to strangers who you've just met, wondering how they're going to perceive you and judge you. But bottling it all up will only make you more uncomfortable and miserable in the long run. There may be times when you don't even know you're suppressing it all in and may pretend to not care.

However, it is important that you delve deeper into your soul and ask yourself some heavy questions. That said, here are 7 signs that indicate you're bottling up your emotions and fighting your own battles. One of the reigning signs that tell you that you're bottling up your emotions is that you choose to keep your concerns to yourself and do not address them when you need to. While expressing how you feel is the only way to relieve yourself from various tensions and anxiety-ridden situations, keeping it to yourself will only heighten your overthinking abilities and keep you anxious for a longer period of time.

What you should do instead is talk to a trusted friend or give yourself the time to address your concerns. Many times, people are heartbroken and their souls search for someone who can help them overcome their situation.

However, it just so happens that they're either too embarrassed to cry it out in front of people or show their vulnerability. While it may seem suitable at that time, it'll only make you feel more weak and troubled.

Do you overlook great matters of concern but choose to overreact and burst out on trivial issues? If yes, then this is you just trying to deviate people's mind from your real problems and distract them from questioning you at all. Also, such a reaction could arise out of your need to vent it out on something other than your actual troubles.

If you're someone who avoids confronting people and does not engage in addressing your concerns, then you're just bottling up your emotions. Have a professional talk with a colleague. Or just simply call your friend and talk about what you feel. Sometimes all you need is someone to talk to. Are you having problems with your kids? Maybe you can talk to your parents or in-laws so you can hear their advice on what you need to do.

Simply talk to someone you can trust, and will listen to you without judgment. If you find it hard opening up to a person you know, you can always talk to a counselor or therapist. Bottled-up emotions are hard to process. For some it may be a walk in the park, for some, it is challenging to become emotional. Do you want to talk to a therapist as soon as possible? Kentucky Counseling Center is a mental health agency specializing in counseling, psychiatry, and case management.

We accept Medicaid and most major insurance plans. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Skip to content. Resorting To Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms Some people tend to resort to unhealthy coping mechanisms when there are too many emotions to mask. Changes In Eating Patterns Have you heard of the expression of eating your emotions away? You Overreact To Everything Because of all this bottled-up emotional turmoil, you find it hard to deal with stress and you overreact to everything.

How To Stop Bottling Up Your Emotions Studies show that people suppressing their emotional pain is at risk of developing a chronic illness like cancer or suffer from heart disease. Have a self-reflection and ask yourself these questions: What am I feeling?

Am I angry, scared, jealous, anxious? When did this feeling start? Did I experience a life event that caused this? Is it because of heartbreak?