repression
Holding emotions down
Repression is the act of subduing or holding something down by force.
A government engages in repression when it suppresses dissent: The regime's repression of protesters drew international condemnation.
In psychology, repression is the unconscious exclusion of painful memories or desires from awareness—a defense mechanism that keeps disturbing thoughts buried.
The adjective repressed describes both suppressed populations and individuals who have pushed emotions out of conscious reach: repressed anger, a repressed memory.
Not awake or aware
- subconsciousBelow conscious awareness
- FreudFounder of psychoanalysis
- psychoanalysisTreatment via unconscious exploration
- traumaLasting psychological wound
defense mechanism · neurosis · anxiety · denial · projection · displacement · regression · sublimation
Oppressive, absolute governance
- dictatorshipUnchecked single-ruler government
- autocracyRule by one
- despotismAbsolute one-person rule
- totalitarianismState controls everything absolutely
authoritarianism · regime · subjugation · persecution · martial law · crackdown · police state · surveillance
Limit on action
- inhibitionMental check on behavior
- curtailmentAct of reducing scope
- stiflingOppressively hot and close
- containmentPreventing hostile expansion
control · limitation · prohibition · restraint · confinement · blockage · stranglehold · clampdown
Unjust differential treatment
- marginalizationRelegation to powerless periphery
- inequalityUnequal distribution of resources
- injusticeDenial of fair treatment
- silencingStopping noise or dissent
exclusion · disenfranchisement · subjugation · patriarchy · heteronormativity · caste · segregation · stigmatization
Domination through foreign settlement
- imperialismExtending dominion over others
- slaveryOwnership of people
- internmentWartime civilian imprisonment
- inquisitionSustained, probing investigation
pogrom · genocide · Holocaust · gulag · ethnic cleansing · occupation · conquest · forced labor
unconscious
Not awake or aware
- subconsciousBelow conscious awareness
- FreudFounder of psychoanalysis
- psychoanalysisTreatment via unconscious exploration
trauma · defense mechanism · neurosis · anxiety · denial · projection · displacement · regression · sublimation · reaction formation
tyranny
Oppressive, absolute governance
- dictatorshipUnchecked single-ruler government
- autocracyRule by one
- despotismAbsolute one-person rule
totalitarianism · authoritarianism · regime · subjugation · persecution · martial law · crackdown · police state · surveillance · secret police
restriction
Limit on action
- inhibitionMental check on behavior
- curtailmentAct of reducing scope
- stiflingOppressively hot and close
containment · control · limitation · prohibition · restraint · confinement · blockage · stranglehold · clampdown · suffocation
discrimination
Unjust differential treatment
- marginalizationRelegation to powerless periphery
- inequalityUnequal distribution of resources
- injusticeDenial of fair treatment
silencing · exclusion · disenfranchisement · subjugation · patriarchy · heteronormativity · caste · segregation · stigmatization · voicelessness
colonialism
Domination through foreign settlement
- imperialismExtending dominion over others
- slaveryOwnership of people
- internmentWartime civilian imprisonment
inquisition · pogrom · genocide · Holocaust · gulag · ethnic cleansing · occupation · conquest · forced labor · deportation
- Communist PolandCommunist era, People's Republic, Solidarity, Walesa, state surveillance
- Dualityduality, dual nature, two sides, yin and yang, yin-yang
- downregulationinhibition, silencing, attenuation, negative feedback, dampening
- memory errorsmemory leak, false memory, memory distortion, misattribution, confabulation
- Dystopia1984, Nineteen Eighty-Four, dystopian fiction, totalitarianism, Brave New World
- psychologypsychology, psychologist, therapist, psychiatrist, clinical psychology
repressionexpression
Conveyed thought or feeling
catharsis · release · abreaction · emotional release · acknowledgment
repressionfreedom
Absence of constraint
liberty · liberation · emancipation · free expression · democracy
repressiondisinhibition
Reduced behavioral restraint
uninhibitedness · indulgence · self-indulgence · unrestrainedness · gratification
- political repressionState suppression of opposition
- emotional repressionBlocking one's own feelings
- police repressionForceful control by authorities