The Cost of Bottling It Up: Emotion Suppression as a Mediator in the Relationship Between Anger and Depression Among Men with Prostate Cancer.

Findings highlight the salience of anger in the experience of depression symptoms for men with prostate cancer. The mediating role of emotion suppression, which in turn was strongly linked to men's feelings of guilt, suggests potential assessment and intervention targets. Future work should examine the role of androgen deprivation therapy and other treatments including active surveillance on the relationship between anger and depression in men with prostate cancer. Consideration of interventions focused on emotion processing skills in psycho-oncology settings may help reduce men's reliance on emotion suppression as a strategy for coping with feelings of anger or guilt in the context of prostate cancer.