Concepts
Health psychology/Defence mechanisms · Neurotic
Repression
What it means
Unconscious exclusion of distressing thoughts, memories or impulses from conscious awareness.
Worked example
No conscious memory of a childhood trauma that nonetheless influences behaviour.
In the exam
A woman has no recollection of a traumatic childhood event, yet shows unexplained anxiety around its reminders.
What settles it
Repression is UNCONSCIOUS and not chosen. Suppression is the conscious, deliberate version.
Classically confused with
Suppression
Source: AMBOSS