The average person has NINE deep dark secrets, study reveals

"You might think about secrets when you're showering, when you're doing your dishes or when you're heading to work. Having these thoughts pop into your mind when you don't necessarily want them to is often unpleasant, and people seem to get caught in vicious cycles of thinking spontaneously about their secrets as they go about their life, and feeling worse about them."

"Most of the sample reported mind-wandering to what other people might think about the secret at least once during the study. These frequencies suggest that people focus more on general concerns about the secret and the social impact of their secret rather than on ways to regulate who does (not) know the secret."

"The study found that people generally reported their most important secret to be negative, regularly sparking worries or concerns. When these secrets popped into their head without warning, people reported feeling negative emotions both in the moment and also two hours later."

A University of Melbourne study of 240 participants identified that people maintain an average of nine significant secrets. The most prevalent secrets involve lies, followed by dissatisfaction with appearance, financial matters, and romantic desires. Over half reported secret sexual behaviors. Other common secrets include harming others, drug use, theft, disliking friends, job dissatisfaction, and marriage proposals. Secrets frequently intrude into consciousness during routine activities like showering or commuting, triggering negative emotions. Participants reported their most important secrets as predominantly negative, regularly causing worry. Intrusive thoughts about secrets produced negative emotions both immediately and hours later. People typically focused on social implications rather than managing secret disclosure. Deliberate secret contemplation usually involved daydreaming.

Read at Mail Online