People who are emotionally constipated often experience these 13 symptoms

Are you emotionally backed up?

A man with dark hair and a denim shirt sits on a gray couch, appearing deep in thought with hands clasped near his mouth. A yellow pillow is in the background, adding a touch of color to the room.

Bottling up your emotions, either due to an unwillingness or inability to process, express, and release them, can make you feel uncomfortable and backed up, emotionally speaking.

You may not even realize that you’re emotions are getting backed up, that is, until they explode out of you.

But an emotional blockage of this sort can manifest in several different ways, and usually has some giveaway signs, once you know what to look for. Below are some of the most common ones to look out for.

1. Headaches and blurred vision.

A middle-aged woman with short blonde hair sits on a couch, pressing her fingers to her temples and grimacing. She appears to be experiencing pain or discomfort, possibly a headache. She is wearing a plaid shirt. The background is blurred and bright.

If you’ve ever had a stress-related headache or migraine, you know how debilitating they can be. While migraines are often caused by physical factors, those caused by emotional constipation are due to an internal buildup of some kind.

All those unreleased energies can force their way upwards like bubbles in carbonated soda and will cause pain and vision issues when they’re bouncing around the inside of your cranium.

2. Empathetic disassociation.

Two women sitting and chatting at an outdoor café with a canal and buildings in the background. One woman, wearing a hat, holds a coffee cup while the other woman, wearing a patterned scarf, looks at her while speaking.

You might be so numbed-out about the world around you that you have difficulty empathizing with what others are experiencing.

For instance, someone might tell you that their parent died the day before and your only response would be “Oh,” rather than expressing condolences or asking if you can do anything to help.

It doesn’t even occur to you that they might be feeling emotional about the experience, since your so detached from your own hurt.

3. Tightness in your face, especially around your eyes.

A man is sitting on a couch, looking distressed. He is wearing a grey t-shirt and is holding his hand to his forehead, appearing to have a headache or be in deep thought. The background is blurred, with neutral-colored cushions visible behind him.

Have you ever noticed that when people are bracing against something – be that physical like hard rain, or emotional like bad news – they tend to wince?

Now, when someone is bracing against emotions they don’t want to (or can’t) feel on a near constant basis, that kind of wincing and facial tightness can become chronic. They might develop creases between their eyebrows or feel constant pain across their foreheads and cheekbones. In severe cases, they might feel like they have sinus infections because of the ruckus being caused in their face.

4. Sleep problems.

A woman with long dark hair is lying in bed, partially covered by a white sheet. She has a concerned or thoughtful expression on her face, looking up towards the ceiling. Her hand rests on the pillow next to her head.

Repressed emotions want to free themselves however they can, and what better time to do this than when you’re trying to sleep?

When you’re not consciously tamping down everything you’re thinking and feeling, those emotions can well up and manifest physically.

Insomnia, thrashing, running hot and cold, waking repeatedly through the night and having difficulty falling back asleep, and tumultuous dreams are all manifestations of emotional constipation.

5. Anxiety or panic attacks.

A young woman with long brown hair looks out of a window, with a thoughtful or worried expression on her face. She is wearing a red and white striped shirt. The background is somewhat blurred, with hints of trees and possibly buildings outside.

Repressed emotions don’t just go away: they accumulate and build up. That energy has to go somewhere, and if it isn’t released and channeled in a healthy manner, then it finds a way to escape however it can.

Think of this kind of like steam escaping from a pressure cooker. If you don’t have a valve that releases excess pressure when it builds too high, then it might seep out from the sides or crack the lid in an attempt to get free.

6. Seemingly “irrational” bouts of anger or weeping.

A man with dark hair is pointing his finger and angrily shouting at a woman with brown hair, who appears shocked and upset. They are in what looks like a kitchen or dining area, with a blurred oven in the background.

You find that someone’s left an unwashed plate on the kitchen counter and suddenly feel a wave of rage so powerful that you want to throw that dish through the window like a frisbee. Or you’re out taking a walk and suddenly start crying for no apparent reason.

These emotional outbursts are similar to the anxiety and panic attacks mentioned above. When emotions are repressed for long enough, they have to find a way to escape somehow, by any means necessary, so you don’t rupture anything vital.

7. Numbness.

A woman with shoulder-length brown hair and light-colored eyes is gazing thoughtfully to her right. She is in a library, with shelves of colorful books out of focus in the background.

On the opposite side of the spectrum to what’s mentioned above, we have emotional numbness. You may be so checked-out emotionally that you can’t feel anything at all. This might even extend to parts of your body as well.

You could do the emotional equivalent of driving a pitchfork into your guts and you wouldn’t feel it. Things are so deeply repressed and tamped down that they won’t be able to move without significant help.

8. Jaw issues and toothaches.

A person with short blonde hair sits at a desk with closed eyes, pressing their fingers to their temples in frustration. They are wearing a sleeveless top and have a coffee mug in front of them. The background is a dimly lit office space.

Much like the headaches mentioned above, emotional repression can manifest in jaw or tooth pain. These are most often caused by clenching one’s jaws against unwanted feelings, causing temporomandibular joint pain and pressure against the teeth.

In addition to being painful, this can cause long-term damage to the teeth themselves. They can end up chipped, cracked, or otherwise worn down.

9. Throat pain or congestion.

A woman with blonde hair, wearing a light gray shirt, holds her face with both hands. She appears to be deep in thought or worried, sitting in a dimly lit room with a bed and a painting on the wall in the background.

The throat chakra, visuddha, is associated with expression. If you’re emotionally constipated and unable to express what it is you’re feeling, guess what’s going to manifest? That’s right: all kinds of throat-related issues.

You may find that your throat closes up when you try to speak, leaving you stammering or at a loss for words. In fact, you may even lose your voice for no apparent reason, as your emotional repression is literally preventing you from being able to speak.

On a similar note, you might be prone to recurrent throat infections like tonsillitis or strep, or even get “stones” in your tonsils or eustachian tubes. Other people might find that they get mucus buildup that they need to keep clearing, or a general raw soreness that needs to be alleviated with soothing drinks and soft food.

10. Digestive issues.

A woman with long brown hair sits on the floor in a bathroom. She is wearing a white tank top and colorful plaid pajama pants. She appears distressed, with her head tilted down and one hand holding her stomach, the other holding her head.

These could range from nausea and gallbladder tightness to acid reflux, indigestion, lower belly cramping, and IBS. In fact, digestive issues are some of the most common signs of emotional repression and constipation.

Emotion gets processed through the belly just like food, so if you’re having trouble digesting your feelings, they’ll get backed up and start roiling in your abdomen.

The solar plexus/upper abdominal chakra is called manipurna. It governs emotions and willpower and is the bridge between the upper intellectual energy centers, and the lower emotional ones. When and if this gets clogged, it’ll create disharmony throughout.

Imagine this like a blockage in one of your home’s water system’s major connection areas. If it gets plugged up, there’s no real movement either way. You can’t bring water in, and you can’t release anything either. Everything stagnates and begins to degrade.

11. Restless leg syndrome.

Two people sit across from each other at a small round table in a modern cafe. They are holding hands across the table, which has two coffee cups, a saucer, and a box. Their legs are visible, showing one wearing heeled boots and a skirt, and the other in pants.

Repressed emotions will find a way to release themselves. In some people, this might mean they develop restless leg syndrome.

If you’re not familiar with this syndrome, it involves the subconscious twitching and bouncing of one or both legs while at rest. This may happen while working at a desk, or while asleep. In essence, it’s simply energy being released in a subconscious manner.

12. Distraction with comfort.

A person with short hair, seen from behind, is holding a video game controller and playing a soccer video game on a large screen. The room is dimly lit with a pink and blue glow, illuminating the player and the screen.

It’s easy to ignore emotions we don’t want to deal with by immersing ourselves in something else – especially if it requires our full attention.

This way, we can redirect our energy towards something that entertains us or occupies us fully so we have an excuse not to look in the corners and boxes we’re avoiding.

Some people might scroll endlessly through social media feeds or binge-watch Netflix series for hours so they don’t have to think about what they’re feeling. Others may lose themselves in video games or get super into finicky crafts that require all their energy and focus.

Do you find that you’re immersing yourself in tasks or pastimes more than you usually do? And do you get really irritable or angry if you’re interrupted while doing so? For instance, you might snap at your spouse or kids for daring to tell you that dinner is ready because you didn’t want to break focus from your disassociation.

This is common for a lot of people dealing with emotional constipation, as it’s easier to redirect focus than to look at something that’s causing them pain or anxiety.

While these pastimes can offer catharsis during your off hours, they can end up doing you a lot of harm in the long run. This is because they’re not allowing you any outlet to release all the emotional energy you’ve been tamping down.

13. Self-Isolation.

A person wearing a hooded jacket with a red and black pattern walks alone on a foggy, deserted road lined with tall trees. The ground is wet, suggesting recent rain, and the fog obscures the distance ahead. The person has their hands in their pockets.

Some people are so dead-set against feeling anything they don’t want to face that they isolate themselves away from any potential “triggers.” If they don’t spend time with friends or family members, then those people can’t say or do anything that might crack their tightly-sealed doors open.

If they have to communicate with others, it’s via brief emails or texts. Or they might go “no-contact” entirely and become complete social recluses.

Their rationale is that they can keep avoiding all these uncomfortable emotions if they simply pretend they don’t exist. Sort of like when little kids don’t quite get the concept of hide and seek, and think that if they close their eyes tight enough, not only can they not see you – you can’t see them either.

The only way they can keep that pretense going is by not giving anyone the opportunity to tell them otherwise.

The problem here is that this kind of self-isolation exacerbates all kinds of emotional instabilities. When people get reclusive, they can lose their ability to interact or empathize with others. Furthermore, they might develop more serious conditions like agoraphobia. What started out as a desire to be left alone might evolve into the inability to leave their apartment or house.

Eventually, they become trapped by the very walls they erected to protect themselves.