Dr. Gabor Maté on health: what the evidence says · JRE #1869
SUBJECT: HEALTH
The short answer
Maté claims a Massachusetts study followed 2,000 women over 10 years and found those who were happily married but suppressed their emotions were four times as likely to die as those who expressed their feelings. No study matching Mate's description (a Massachusetts study of 2,000 women followed for 10 years, finding a 4x mortality risk) could be located.
Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.
Now there was a study out of Massachusetts, I think, which I quote in the book. I think 2,000 women were followed over 10 years. Those who were happily married and didn't express their emotions were four times as likely to die
What the evidence says 01 / RECORD
No study matching Mate's description (a Massachusetts study of 2,000 women followed for 10 years, finding a 4x mortality risk) could be located. The closest identifiable research on emotion suppression and mortality is Chapman et al. (2013, Journal of Psychosomatic Research), which used a nationally representative US sample of 729 adults of both sexes (the 2008 General Social Survey-National Death Index cohort), followed for 12 years, and found emotion suppression was associated with hazard ratios of 1.35 for all-cause mortality and up to 1.70 for cancer mortality, well below the 4x figure Mate cites. Current evidence supports a modest association between emotional suppression and increased mortality risk, but nothing near the magnitude or specificity Mate describes.