The Silent Threat: The Mental Health and Societal Costs of Censorship, and How to Guard Against It

How Censorship Erodes Mental Health and Wellbeing

We often think of freedom of expression as a political issue, but it’s also a deeply personal one. The ability to express thoughts, challenge ideas, and engage in open discussions is critical for mental health. When that freedom is restricted, people experience:

1. Fear, Anxiety, and Constant Self-Censorship

When speech is regulated—by governments, social pressure, or even workplaces—people learn to self-censor. They start asking themselves:

• “Is it safe to say this?”

• “Will I lose my job or be shamed for this opinion?”

• “What if I say the wrong thing without realizing it?”

This constant second-guessing creates anxiety, leading to stress, hyper-vigilance, and emotional exhaustion. Research shows that environments where people feel silenced or monitored lead to increased cortisol (the stress hormone), which contributes to anxiety and depression.

In places like North Korea or China, people don’t just avoid talking about politics publicly—they avoid talking about it at all. The fear of saying something that could get them in trouble is so ingrained that even private conversations feel dangerous. That kind of stress wears people down, both emotionally and physically.

2. Loss of Creativity and Innovation

Throughout history, the greatest thinkers, artists, and scientists have pushed boundaries and challenged norms. But when societies limit what can be said, creativity suffers.

During the Cold War, scientists and writers in the Soviet Union had to align their work with government-approved ideology. Any deviation was seen as dangerous. The result? Stagnation. When people fear consequences for thinking differently, they stop taking risks, innovation slows, and the progress of entire industries suffers.

3. Social Isolation and Distrust

Censorship doesn’t just silence individuals—it creates division. When people fear being punished for their views, they withdraw from conversations. They stop trusting their neighbors, their coworkers, even their friends.

In extreme cases, like under Stalin’s rule in the Soviet Union, people turned on each other to protect themselves. Citizens would report friends and family members to the government for having the “wrong” beliefs. Today, we’re seeing a growing culture of public shaming and social ostracization for people who express unpopular opinions. This kind of environment increases loneliness, fear, and depression.

4. Damage to Intimate Relationships

Self-censorship damages relationships. Couples who once felt deeply connected start avoiding topics—money, parenting, values—with the intention of reducing conflict and keeping the peace, but over time, the silence creates distance. Conversations become careful instead of real, and both start feeling less important. Couples end up feeling invisible in their own homes—not because their partner silences them, but because they’ve learned to silence themselves. This results in resentment, loneliness, and a relationship that becomes distant because they never have difficult conversations that are essential to maintaining trust and confidence — and that demonstrate they matter to each other. 

5. Tribalism

When people fear speaking openly—at work, online, or in their communities—they disengage. Discussions become shallow, trust erodes, and divisions grow. When people stop having difficult conversations, they lose touch with their own beliefs and values, never being challenged or corrected about false beliefs. Rather than speak for themself, they choose acceptable talking points of the tribe they affiliate with most. Ultimately people become more entrenched in what feels safe, saying only what they know is acceptable — and ultimately they become more tribal because outside voices feel increasingly foreign and hostile.

What History Teaches Us About Censorship and Totalitarianism

Censorship is a hallmark of totalitarianism, whether it comes from the left or the right. When speech is controlled, governments gain the power to shape what people believe—leading to oppression, violence, and suffering.

I witnessed this firsthand while living in Hong Kong from 1999 to 2005. During that time, the city was still a place of open debate and diverse perspectives, but after China’s crackdown on protests in 2019, everything changed. The 2020 National Security Law criminalized dissent, leading to mass arrests. Thousands of activists, journalists, and opposition leaders have been arrested and many news outlets have been shut down. What I remember as being a thriving, free society has become a place where silence and fear. 

I’ve also traveled to Cambodia, where I visited prisons and memorials dedicated to the millions murdered under the Khmer Rouge. In the 1970s, the communist regime led by Pol Pot attempted to create a more equitable, classless, agrarian society. Citizens were forced to abandon their homes, move to the country and live as farm workers in order to dismantle what they believed to be a system corrupted by western capitalist ideas. The people of Cambodia were subject to widespread forced migration and labor, as well as disease, starvation, torture and mass murder. Those seen as a threat, intellectuals, teachers, and professionals were executed because independent and diverse thought, and capitalist beliefs were seen as dangerous. Over 1.7 million Cambodians—nearly a quarter of the population—were killed (source: The Documentation Center of Cambodia).

When governments begin to censor citizens and pass laws that regulate speech, regardless of how well intentioned, the results can be disastrous. No one can predict how far leaders or governments might go to silence dissenting voices or use those laws to justify imprisonment, punishment, physical harm or even murder to silence opposing voices.