Article October 3, 1970 Issue

Repression or Expression?

JEANNE GUERIN BENGSTON

We have all heard the remark, "I had to get it out of my system." Some people even think mental health is promoted by giving vent in voice and action to such emotions as hate, aggression, or jealousy. This, they say, will release these emotions and give a more relaxed feeling, while repressing hostility is unhealthy and causes tension and illness.

But what did Christ Jesus teach? He never indicated that the healing of unhappy feelings could come about by doing harm to another either by speech or action. Nor did he teach that it would be unhealthy to refuse to speak the sarcastic, the cruel, or the degrading. He said, "Those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man."^{Matt. 15:18;}

Clearly, Jesus' teaching was in opposition to "getting it out of one's system" as ordinarily interpreted. Pouring out the venom of hatred and vengeance for real or imagined injustices does not clear the air but clouds the relationship. Such outpouring magnifies error and defiles a person by making visible the undesirable traits of thought he has harbored. It fills his mental state with the unhappiness of self-pity and guilt.

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