What is it about Revealing Secrets that is Beneficial?

TLDR

The authors investigated what aspects of revealing secrets make people feel better about them. Study 1 surveyed 137 undergraduates about whether revealing secrets to confidants produced new insights or catharsis, and Study 2 randomly assigned 85 undergraduates to write about secrets while attempting to gain new insights, catharsis, or to write about a previous day as a control. Results indicated that gaining new insights from revealing secrets predicted positive feelings and greater acceptance, whereas catharsis or venting alone predicted negative feelings and less acceptance, implying that emotional venting alone may be harmful.

Abstract

Two studies explored what it is about revealing secrets that makes people feel better about them. In Study 1, undergraduates (N = 137) indicated whether they had gained new insights or catharsis from revealing secrets to confidants in the past. Gaining insights predicted feeling positive about the secrets, whereas gaining catharsis predicted feeling negative about them. In Study 2, undergraduates (N = 85) were randomly assigned to write about their (a) secrets while trying to gain new insights, (b) secrets while trying to gain catharsis, or (c) previous day. The new insights group felt more positive about their secrets than did the other groups and came to terms with their secrets more than did those in the catharsis group. Not coming to terms with the secrets was associated with feeling negative about them. It is suggested that focusing solely on venting emotions may be an unhelpful or even harmful way of dealing with secrets.