The Fact
Controlled laboratory studies of acute stress and emotion regulation found that stressed men were more likely to choose distraction rather than reappraisal when regulating high-intensity negative emotion, and they reported greater regulation success afterward. A separate experiment found that acute stress improved men's success with cognitive reappraisal. Broader research on emotional disclosure does not establish verbal disclosure as a universal requirement for healthy emotional processing.
What This Means
A man does not have to talk about his feelings in order to be processing them. Talking can be useful when he wants it, but it is one possible strategy rather than a requirement. Time, distance, physical or goal-directed activity, distraction, and cognitive reappraisal can also regulate emotion. Not wanting to talk about a feeling does not, by itself, establish that he is failing to process it.
Sources
- Langer K et al. (2022), Psychoneuroendocrinology, acute stress influences strategy preference when dealing with high-intensity emotions in men; Langer K et al. (2020), Neurobiology of Stress, acute stress and cognitive emotion regulation in men; systematic research on emotional-disclosure interventions.