Abstract
Tendencies to suppress negative emotions have been shown to predict adjustment to cancer and cancer progression. We examined whether emotional suppression, in terms of both general and emotion-specific tendencies, predict symptom reports, mood states, and coping appraisals during adriamycin/doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide/cytoxan chemotherapy for breast cancer. Forty participants completed a measure yielding scores for anxiety suppression, anger suppression, depression suppression, and total emotional suppression. They then reported their experiences of 34 physical symptoms, mood, and coping efficacy on a daily basis for the duration of treatment (84 days). Mixed model analyses revealed that emotional suppression predicted lower reports of symptoms that are vague, well-known, and potentially embarrassing side effects of chemotherapy (e.g., fatigue and constipation). Emotional suppression and particularly anger suppression predicted higher reports of symptoms relating to immune function and cardiovascular arousal (e.g., mouth sores and heart palpitations) and with appraisals of poorer coping. The three suppression tendencies exhibited distinctive patterns of relationships with symptoms, mood, and coping appraisals, suggesting that anxiety suppression, anger suppression, and depression suppression have partially independent relationships with symptomatic and mood processes. The findings highlight the potential importance of emotional suppression for understanding symptom and coping responses during chemotherapy.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Classen C, Koopman C, Angell K, Spiegel D. Coping styles associated with psychological adjustment to advanced breast cancer. Health Psychol. 1996; 15: 434-437.
Gross JJ. Emotional expression in cancer onset and progression. Soc Sci Med. 1989; 28: 1239-1248.
Temoshok L. Emotions and health outcomes: Some theoretical and methodological considerations. In: Traue HC, Pennebaker JW, eds. Emotion, Inhibition and Health. Kirkland: Hogrefe & Huber; 1993: 247-256.
Watson M, Greer S, Rowden L, et al. Relationship between emotional control, adjustment to cancer and depression and anxiety in breast cancer patients. Psychol Med. 1991; 21: 51-57.
Lockhart PB, Sonis ST. Relationship of oral complications to peripheral blood leukocyte and platelet counts in patients receiving cancer chemotherapy. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol. 1979; 48: 21-28.
Sonis ST. Mucositis as a biological process: A new hypothesis for the development of chemotherapy-induced stomatotoxicity. Oral Oncol. 1998; 34: 39-43.
Gross JJ. Emotion and emotion regulation. In: Pervin LA, ed. Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research. 2nd ed. New York: Guilford; 1999: 525-552.
Cameron LD, Jago L. Emotion regulation interventions: A common-sense model approach. Br J Health Psychol. 2008; 13: 215-221.
Gross J, John O. Wise emotion regulation. In: Feldman Barret L, Salovey P, eds. The Wisdom of Feelings: Psychological Processes in Emotional Intelligence. New York: Guilford; 2002: 297-318.
John O, Gross J. Healthy and unhealthy emotion regulation: Personality processes, individual differences, and life span development. J Pers. 2004; 72: 1301-1333.
Gross J, Levenson RW. Hiding feelings: The acute effects of inhibiting positive and negative emotions. J Abnormal Psychol. 1997; 106: 95-103.
Nezlek JB, Kuppens P. Regulating positive and negative emotions in daily life. J Pers. 2008; 76: 562-579.
Gross JJ, John OP. Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: Implications for affect, relationships and well-being. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2003; 85: 348-362.
Spiegel D, Sephton SE. Psychoneuroimmune and endocrine pathways in cancer: Effects of stress and support. Semin Clin Neuropsychiatry. 2001; 6: 252-265.
Jorgensen RS, Johnson BT, Kolodziej ME, Schreer GE. Elevated blood pressure and personality: A meta-analytic review. Psychol Bull. 1996; 120: 293-320.
Richards JM, Gross JJ. Composure at any cost? The cognitive consequences of emotion suppression. Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 1999; 25: 1033-1044.
Panedo FJ, Dahn JR, Kinsinger D, et al. Anger suppression mediates the relationship between optimism and natural killer cell cytotoxicity in men treated for localized prostate cancer. J Psychosom Res. 2006; 60: 423-437.
Petrie KJ, Booth RJ, Pennebaker JW. The immunological effects of thought suppression. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1998; 75: 1264-1272.
Iwamitsu Y, Shimoda K, Abe H, Tani T, Okawa M. The relationship between suppression of negative emotion in breast cancer patients and emotional distress after diagnosis. Japanese Journal of General Hospital Psychiatry. 2002; 14: 9-16.
Clark DA, Steer RA, Beck AT. Common and specific dimensions of self-reported anxiety and depression: Implications for the cognitive and tripartite models. J Abnorm Psychol. 1994; 103: 645-654.
Levensen RW. Autonomic nervous system differences among emotions. Psychol Sci. 1993; 3: 23-27.
Pankseep J. Neurologizing the psychology of affe3cts: How appraisal-based constructivism and basic emotion theory can coexist. Perspectives Psychol Sci. 2007; 2: 281-296.
Leventhal E, Hansell S, Diefenbach M, Leventhal H, Glass DC. Negative affect and self-report of physical symptoms: Two longitudinal studies of older adults. Health Psychol. 1996; 15: 193-199.
Cameron LD, Leventhal H, Love RR. Trait anxiety, symptom perceptions, and illness-related responses among women with breast cancer in remission during a tamoxifen clinical trial. Health Psychol. 1998; 17: 459-469.
Cameron LD, Leventhal H, Love RR, Patrick-Miller LJ. Trait anxiety and tamoxifen effects on bone mineral density and sex hormone-binding globulin. Psychosom Med. 2002; 64: 612-620.
Badr H, Basen-Engquist K, Taylor CLC, de Moor C. Mood states associated with transitory physical symptoms among breast and ovarian cancer survivors. J Behav Med. 2006; 29: 461-475.
Bower JE, Ganz PA, Desmond KA, Rowland JH, Meyerowitz BE, Belin TR. Fatigue in breast cancer survivors: Occurrence, correlates, and impact on quality of life. J Clin Oncol. 2000; 18: 743-753.
Curran SL, Beacham AO, Andrykowski MA. Ecological momentary assessment of fatigue following breast cancer treatment. J Behav Med. 2004; 27: 425-444.
Giese-Davis J, Wilhelm FH, Conrad A, et al. Depression and stress reactivity in metastatic breast cancer. Psychosom Med. 2006; 68: 675-683.
Spiegel D, Giese-Davis J. Depression and cancer: Mechanisms and disease progression. Recent Adv Biol Psychiatry. 2003; 54: 269-282.
Temoshok L, Dreher H. The type C connection: The behavioral links to cancer and your health. New York: Random House; 1992.
Mills PJ, Dimsdale JE. Anger suppression, its relationship to beta-adrenergic receptor sensitivity and stress-induced changes in blood pressure. Psychol Med. 1993; 23: 673-678.
Everson SA, Goldberg DE, Kaplan GA, Julkumen J, Salonen JT. Anger expression and incident hypertension. Psychosom Med. 1998; 60: 730-735.
Cameron LD. Anxiety, cognition, and responses to health threats. In: Cameron LD, Leventhal H, eds. The Self-Regulation of Health and Illness Behaviour. New York: Routledge; 2003: 157-183.
Watson D, Pennebaker JW. Health complaints, stress, and distress: Exploring the central role of negative affectivity. Psychol Rev. 1989; 96: 234-254.
Dennis TA. Interactions between emotion regulation strategies and affective style: Implications for trait anxiety versus depressed mood. Motiv Emot. 2007; 31: 200-207.
Schlatter MC. Emotional control and breast cancer: Implications for coping, immunocompetence, and the experience of chemotherapy side effects. Ph.D. thesis, The University of Auckland; 2005.
Carver CS, White TL. Behavioral inhibition, behavioral activation, and affective responses to impending reward and punishment: The BIS/BAS scales. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1994; 67: 319-333.
Miller LC, Murphy R, Buss AH. Consciousness of body: Private and public. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1981; 41: 397-406.
Ferguson RH, Ahles TA. Private body consciousness, anxiety and pain symptom reports of chronic pain patients. Behaviour Research and Therapy. 1998; 36: 527-535.
Zachariae R, Paulsen K, Mehlsen M, Jensen AB, Johansson A. Chemotherapy-induced nausea, vomiting, and fatigue: The role of individual differences related to sensory perception and autonomic reactivity. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. 2007; 76: 376-384.
Land SR, Kopec JA, Yothers G, et al. Health-related quality of life in axillary node-negative, estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer patients undergoing AC versus CMF chemotherapy: Findings from the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project B-23. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2004; 86: 153-164.
Campora E, Naso C, Vitullo G, et al. The impact of chemotherapy on the quality of life of breast cancer patients. J Chemother. 1992; 4: 59-63.
Hanson Frost M, Suman VJ, Rummans TA, et al. Physical, psychological and social well-being of women with breast cancer: The influence of disease phase. Psychooncology. 2000; 9: 221-231.
Love RR, Leventhal H, Easterling DV, Nerenz DR. Side effects and emotional distress during cancer chemotherapy. Cancer. 1989; 63: 604-612.
de Jong N, Candel MJJM, Schouten HC, Huijer Abu-Saad H, Courtens AM. Prevalence and course of fatigue in breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy. Ann Oncol. 2004; 15: 896-905.
Jacobsen PB, Hann DM, Azzarello LM, Horton J, Balducci L, Lyman G. Fatigue in women receiving adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer: Characteristics, course, and correlates. J Pain Symptom Manage. 1999; 18: 233-242.
Lee J, Dibble S, Pickett M, Luce J. Chemotherapy induced nausea/vomiting and functional status in women treated for breast cancer. Cancer Nurs. 2005; 28: 249-255.
Molassiotis A, Yam BMC, Yung H, Chan FYS, Mok TSK. Pretreatment factors predicting the development of postchemotherapy and vomiting in Chinese breast cancer patients. Support Care Cancer. 2002; 10: 139-145.
Schwartz AL. Daily fatigue patterns and effect of exercise in women with breast cancer. Cancer Pract. 2000; 8: 16-24.
de Wit R, van Dam F, Hanneman M, et al. Evaluation of the use of a pain diary in chronic cancer pain patients at home. Pain. 1999; 79: 89-99.
Maunsell E, Allard P, Dorval M, Labbe J. A brief pain diary for ambulatory patients with advanced cancer: Acceptability and validity. Cancer. 2000; 88: 2387-2397.
Fayers P. MRC quality of life studies using a daily diary card: Practical lessons learned from cancer trials. Qual Life Res. 1995; 4: 343-352.
Sherliker L, Steptoe A. Coping with new treatment of cancer: A feasibility study of daily diary measures. Patient Educ Couns. 2000; 40: 11-19.
Blamey RW. The design and clinical use of the Nottingham Prognostic Index in breast cancer. The Breast. 1996; 5: 156-157.
Watson M, Greer S. Development of a questionnaire measure of emotional control. J Psychosom Res. 1983; 27: 299-305.
Langana L, Chen X, Koopman C, Classen C, Kimerling R, Spiegel D. Depressive symptomatology in relation to emotional control and chronic pain in persons who are HIV positive. Rehab Psychol. 2002; 47: 402-414.
Cordova MJ, Giese-Davis J, Golant M, et al. Mood disturbance in community cancer support groups: The role of emotional suppression and fighting spirit. J Psychosom Res. 2003; 55: 461-467.
Cameron LD, Booth RJ, Schlatter MS, Ziginskas D, Harman J. Changes in emotion regulation and psychological adjustment following use of a group psychosocial support program for women recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Psychooncology. 2007; 16: 171-180.
Giese-Davis J, Koopman C, Butler LD, et al. Change in emotion-regulation strategy for women with metastatic breast cancer following supportive–expressive group therapy. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2002; 70: 916-925.
Brown V, Sitzia J, Richardson A, Hughes J, Hannon H, Oakley C. The development of the Chemotherapy Symptom Assessment Scale (C-SAS): A scale for the routine clinical assessment of the symptom experiences of patients receiving cytotoxic chemotherapy. Int J Nurs Stud. 2001; 38: 497-510.
Early Breast Cancer Trialists' Collaborative Group. Polychemotherapy for early breast cancer: An overview of the randomised trials. Lancet. 1998; 352: 930-942.
National Cancer Institute. Chemotherapy and you. A guide to self-help during cancer treatment. USA: National Institutes of Health; 1999.
Hoda D, Perez DG, Loprinzi CL. Hot flashes in breast cancer survivors. Breast J. 2003; 9: 431.
Servaes P, Verhagen C, Bleijenberg G. Fatigue in cancer patients during and after treatment: Prevalence, correlates and interventions. Eur J Cancer. 2002; 38: 27-43.
Shapiro CL, Recht A. Drug therapy: Side effects of adjuvant treatment of breast cancer. NEJM. 2001; 344: 1997-2008.
Marteau TM, Bekker H. The development of a six-item short-form of the state scale of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). J Clin Psychol. 1992; 31: 301-306.
Carver CS, Meyer B, Antoni MH. Responsiveness to threats and incentives, expectancy of recurrence, and distress and disengagement: Moderator effects in women with early stage breast cancer. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2000; 68: 965-975.
Radloff L. The CES-D scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychosocial Measurement. 1977; 1: 385-401.
Hsiao C. Analysis of panel data. 2nd ed. New York: Cambridge University Press; 2003.
Kenward MG, Roger JH. Small sample inference for fixed effects from restricted maximum likelihood. Biometrics. 1997; 53: 938-997.
Burns JW, Quartana PJ, Bruehl S. Anger management style moderates effects of emotion suppression during initial stress on pain and cardiovascular responses during subsequent pain induction. Ann Behav Med. 2007; 34: 154-165.
Greer S, Watson M. Towards a psychobiological model of cancer: Psychological considerations. Soc Sci Med. 1985; 20: 773-777.
Thomas SP, Groer M, Davis M, Droppleman P, Mozingo J, Pierce M. Anger and cancer. Cancer Nurs. 2000; 23: 344-349.
Fazio RH, Olson MA. Implicit measures in social cognition research: Their meaning and uses. Ann Rev Psychol. 2003; 54: 297-327.
Feldman BL, Russell JA. Independence and bipolarity in the structure of current affect. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1998; 74: 967-984.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Oncology 161, the Auckland District Health Board, and St Marks Breast Centre for their support and assistance in the recruitment of participants.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
About this article
Cite this article
Schlatter, M.C., Cameron, L.D. Emotional Suppression Tendencies as Predictors of Symptoms, Mood, and Coping Appraisals During AC Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer Treatment. ann. behav. med. 40, 15–29 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-010-9204-6
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-010-9204-6