Suppressing negative thoughts may be good for mental health after all

Yes, you can achieve mastery over your train of thought.

I do not like the article's use of "suppress" as it is an active and forceful word, that connotes some sort of combat or struggle over the thoughts. It's the struggle that will get you in trouble.

It also depends on the nature of the thoughts and our relationship to them. Sometimes we need to work through negative events, process them, deal with them. This study appeared to focus on future imagined events, which are clearly different, and many of us fall victim to catastrophizing, ruminating, and worrying about things that may never happen, or things over which we have no control.

Practicing centering prayer, or mindfulness meditation, it is a discipline to master our thoughts and not allow them to dominate us. Rather than "suppressing" negative thoughts, they can just be neutrally acknowledged, and released without engaging them. In fact, all manner of thoughts and ideas can be treated this way during a meditation, and we will find that nothing in our mundane lives is so important or devastating that it could take the place of God.

But yes, you can get to a certain age, and with a lack of developed discipline, you will feel trapped and powerless to "control" those thoughts, and the first attempts will feel futile. But it's certainly possible and achievable.

There's a book called Why We Need Religion[0] and I believe the main premise is that religions have practices and beliefs that help us process emotions.

[0]: https://bookshop.org/p/books/why-we-need-religion-stephen-t-...

This has been known among psychologist for awhile now. In fact someone who is too honest, someone who see's the truth of the world is more likely to be clinically depressed.

https://radiolab.org/podcast/91618-lying-to-ourselves

This podcast from radiolab really changed my perspective on the concept. Pretty much if you're not depressed, most likely some aspect of you is delusional.

I would say people on HN are especially prone to lying to themselves. They lie to themselves about how intelligent they are. Programming is tied to intelligence and people need to think they're smart in order to maintain pride.

Religion is easy to laugh off as irrational for HNers because religion isn't a big part of their lives. Intelligence and programming is a big part of their lives and that's where all the lies live, in something you take pride in.

Additionally people on HN think they're more rational then normal... they think they don't fall into the trap of lying to themselves. I hate to tell you this, but that's just another lie you all tell yourselves.

They're stable and self-perpetuating, that doesn't make them better. There are plenty of abhorrent beliefs that also "stood the test of time".