Do people sometimes mistake emotional suppression for emotional maturity?

[tiredpanda]

[7Phoenix7]

I think so yes… because emotional maturity isn’t about feeling less… it’s understanding your emotions and knowing how to express them without letting them control you. Also allowing yourself to be vulnerable sometimes….

[tiredpanda]

I agree! And I think being able to acknowledge your emotions and allow yourself to be vulnerable sometimes is a sign of emotional strength, not weakness.

[7Phoenix7]

Exactly yes 🙂

[Chazmatazz269]

I am certain that you’re making at least one mistake yourself. Outside of psychotropic medications, you CANNOT “suppress” your emotions. You feel what you feel when you feel it. That’s just how human beings function. Emotional REGULATION is when people don’t let their emotions dictate their behavior. That literally IS emotional maturity. Allowing your feelings to dictate everything about your behavior is exactly what children do. Children are immature by definition. The more you behave like a child, the less mature you are. IF you teach children proper emotional regulation, they can mature. There’s much more to raising a child than that, but i can assure you that if you fail to teach a child emotional regulation they will NEVER mature.
There’s an abundance of evidence surrounding us every single day. Grown folks throwing temper tantrums that make well trained grade skool kids look like scholars and gentlemen! Ell oh ell!
Again, for the cheap seats, emotional regulation IS maturity.

[tiredpanda]

I agree that emotional regulation is part of emotional maturity, but I disagree with your claim that emotional suppression doesn't exist. You can feel an emotion and still suppress its expression or avoid acknowledging and processing it. There's a difference between managing your emotions in a healthy way and simply pushing them aside. I'm not suggesting that emotional maturity means allowing your emotions to dictate your behaviour. Quite the opposite, actually...

[FreyaRed]

Sometimes, but giving the rudder to emotional child inside of everyone isn't emotional maturity either. As mature personality you have to control and to soften some emotional whims of emotional child inside you. Appearing stoic while someone's emotions cook inside isn't the way of maturity. Maturity is if a person can explain why some emotions are good and socially acceptable while other aren't. While the person is capable to suppress those undesired emotions.

[NathanDavis]

I know I've been on both sides... lol

and it took me years to work on the difference between these two...

[thegreenyogi]

Absolutely. I am emotionally mature and people just assume I am cold because I don't exernate my emotions automatically.

[TonyMetal___1986]

What's the diffence between both?

I guess that i'm more on the mature side now...

[tiredpanda]

I think the difference is in how you deal with your emotions. Suppressing them is more about pushing them aside, ignoring them or pretending they're not there, while emotional maturity is about being able to recognize and understand what you're feeling and knowing how to handle it without letting it control you... It's also about allowing yourself to feel those emotions, even the uncomfortable ones, rather than constantly trying to push them away. :)

[TonyMetal___1986]

Never could of pushed my feelings away, even though sometimes i wish if i can, because the majority of them are negative and hurts but with time i learned how to deal with them...

[tiredpanda]

Sometimes I think pushing feelings away would be easier, but that doesn't necessarily make them disappear. Learning how to deal with them is much healthier… Suppressing them doesn't do any good in the long run.

I'm sorry you've been feeling that way, though. I really hope things get better for you 😊

[TonyMetal___1986]

Thank you, kind lady 😌

[Dargil]

Maybe they are the same thing.

[jahaims]

No they are the opposite. Suppressing emotions isn't healthy. Processing them is.

[tiredpanda]

I don't think they're the same thing, but I do think people sometimes confuse the two. There's a difference between understanding and regulating your emotions and simply suppressing them.

[Josh1010]

Depends on the situation but there is a possibility

[Nik1hil]

Eh!.. who Knows

[Paige2006]

Yes they do

[tiredpanda]

I agree. It seems to happen quite often.

[LotharioENERZY]

They do for sure.

[Anonymous]

Nope

[Anonymous]

Nope