A preliminary study of the effects of directed suppression of rape-related material among rape survivors using unobtrusive measures

The current study explored whether, consistent with Wegner's (1994) theory of ironic process of mental control, instructions to suppress rape-related thoughts would lead to paradoxical increases in the accessibility and distress associated with these thoughts. In order to minimize experimental artifacts, instructions and assessments were designed to be unobtrusive. Although no effects of suppression instructions on rape-related distress emerged, directed suppression was associated with a concurrent increase in heart rate. In addition, directed suppression led to a medium-sized effect of increased accessibility, although this effect was nonsignificant due to small sample size. Finally, individual differences in the tendency to suppress thoughts were associated with increased accessibility in the suppression condition, suggesting that thought control strategies may be particularly problematic when they are chronically employed.