Suppression Smudges Everything

It is my perception that when clients chronically override interoceptive signals – tuning out fatigue, ignoring fear, suppressing desire – the damage isn't specific to that interoceptive stream. Suppression doesn't stay contained. My hunch is that repression of assessments in one specific area smudges your entire interoceptive system, over time. The feedback loops go wonky. Timing gets off. Emotional temperance becomes difficult. And it's not just the negative signals that get corrupted. Arousal and thirst and keen pleasure are dulled, not just fear or pain or fatigue. When a person habitually overrides organismic messages, interoception can become more and more tangled.