thought suppression

Thought Suppression: The attempt to avoid thinking about something we would just as soon forget.

This depends on two processes: (1) monitoring processing; an automatic process of searching for evidence that the unwanted thought is about to intrude on our consciousness, and (2) operating processing; a relatively conscious process attmept to distract oneself by finding something else to think about after the unwanted thought is detected.

The monitoring process continues to find instances of the unwanted thought, which then intudes on consciousness unchecked by the control process. A state of hyperaccessibility results, in which the unwanted thought occurs in high frequency. The irony is that when we are trying our hardest not to think about something, those thoughts are especially likely to pop into our minds.