that is called compartamentalizing... eventually though i think it will leak out. whats important for someone who has been in a traumatic situation to understand is that the worst is over. the actual event is over, and that is the worst of it. it is scary dealing with it but in a way the mind puts it away till you are ready to deal with it... either through therapy or life...

Well, you cant do it forever, and because you are not dealing with the problem, then its pain will be dragged on much longer than if you take on the pain and grief head on, come to terms with it, and move on. You may become Moody and snappy, show Obsessive tendancies and/or lose enjoyment for activities you used to love. These and others are symptoms of depression, which can be a symptom itself as well.

I had a "nervous breakdown" about 2 years ago after holding alot of things inside. I developed an anxiety/ panic disorder. Believe me it's ALOT worse than anyone can imagine. I am just now getting over most of the symptoms (panic attacks,insomnia,breathing difficulties,and even chest pain!), and I still get them every once in awhile. Talking to someone about your problems can definitley help, even if it's talking to someone online like in a forum. Try the forums at Web MD. They've truly helped me alot and you'll realize that there's a ton of people out there with the same misfortunes as yourself. Don't bottle up your feelings, let them out!

Repressing something is like postponing something Often we dont know how to even begin dealing with our emotions so we just avoid thinking about it. We are very good at avoiding looking at something painfull and can easily spend our lives distracting themselves...keeping ourselves busy with friends, shopping, cleaning....anything just to avoid looking at the one problem thats holding us back. Reppressed issues do not just melt away...in fact they do quite the opposite, they hide in the dark corners of your mind and become "big" and scary and most of all isolating ....you may find when you have problems that you're not dealing with you can feel that everyday life is shallow and pointless in comparision to whats going on with you...as you're always going to be in your own head. You cant escape your own issues and at the end of the day you're going to be right back where you started in your mind with the problems "only you have". The important thing is these messed up things in your head, this baggage you're carrying around is not as huge and scary as it makes out...and the worst part of it all is not - dealing with it...it's trying to avoid it. I'm not going to the list the side effects of repressing your emotions as this is only supporting the idea that you can go on successfully pushing this problem back. You're only feeding it by trying to repress it. You push against something - it pushes back.