Bottling up emotions is a strategy with a shelf life. It works for a while, sometimes for decades, creating the appearance of stability and control. Underneath, the bottled emotions do not disappear. They convert into physical symptoms, irritability, chronic fatigue, sleep disturbance, or a generalized numbness that eventually affects every area of the person's life. Some men do not connect these symptoms to the emotional suppression because the suppression has been operating for so long that it no longer feels like an active process. It feels like normal.
Dr. David Steinbok works with men from the Deerfield Beach, Florida area who are experiencing the downstream effects of long-term emotional bottling. A therapist for men who cannot open up recognizes that the bottling is not laziness or resistance. It is a deeply practiced survival strategy that needs to be understood before it can be gradually loosened. His office in Boca Raton provides the private, consistent setting this work requires.
