10 Consequences Of Keeping Secrets

April 2, 2023

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Are you capable of keeping secrets?

Sure, we regard anyone who can keep a secret in the face of urgent information they feel compelled to share as having great inner strength and willpower.

However, it turns out that keeping quiet may not be the best thing for your health.

In fact, according to recent research, harbouring secrets can have a terrible impact on your health and even your job.

Everyone has secrets, it’s true, but what matters most is what those secrets are.

Secrets might be trivial and not serious such as planning a surprise birthday celebration. Those kinds of secrets, and the people who keep them, are harmless.

On the other side, terrible, agonizing, or life-altering secrets may negatively impact on mental health and well-being of an entire family or circle of friends.

Do you need to keep secrets then? Maybe yes or no. There are consequences to keeping secrets.

Here’s why doing so can be consequential.

1) Relationships can be destroyed by keeping secrets

10 Consequences Of Keeping Secrets

Communication can break down in a marriage or any other relationship when secrets are kept.

If adult relationships are irrevocably damaged due to both parties constantly keeping secrets, this may harm the children present as well.

Building self-confidence may help you to open up and come clean to whoever needs the information.

2) Maintaining secrecy can breed suspicion and hostility

Keeping secrets from family members or friends can lead to sentiments, distrust and anger.

Everybody wants to think that they can trust their loved ones. And that they will say what they mean, and that what they say is accurate.

When family members and friends discover that a secret has been kept from them, particularly one that is exacerbated by a lie, trust is severely damaged.

So, to avoid this, it’s important to lessen the number of secrets you keep. It’s definitely a great way to take control of your life & be happy.

3) Keeping secrets might give a distorted perception of reality

Secrets kept inside a family or small group of friends can lead to a distorted perception of reality, especially in young children.

The adults in a child’s life teach them things about the outside world, but when a secret is kept, corrections and mitigations would not come up.

This situation ends up creating a distorted perception of reality without considering the experience or expertise of others.

Regardless of their age, children can experience a significant influence from secrets.

Similarly, parents that routinely hide information from their kids should be aware that this type of behaviour may very probably be replicated in later generations.

4) In the family, keeping secrets can affect children’s lives.

Keeping information from kids should be carefully considered.

Children are very alert, and if they feel anything serious is being kept from them, they may get concerned or anxious.

The worst-case scenario—as is occasionally the case—would be if one or more youngsters in the family feel left out from whatever was going on in the house.

5) Keeping secrets might cause you illness

10 Consequences Of Keeping Secrets

Even when it is believed that remaining silent is the wisest course of action for everyone involved.

Keeping terrible secrets can cause extreme stress and shame for the person carrying the burden of knowledge.

When troubling secrets are internalized rather than revealed, especially over an extended period of time, physical symptoms occur.

Symptoms including anxiety, migraines, backaches, and digestive issues frequently might develop.

People who experience this anguish frequently use alcohol or other addictive substances to dull their suffering.

It’s crucial to keep in mind that similar physical and mental health problems can affect both the person holding the secret and others who created the secret.

6) It breeds more secrecy

When people need to keep a secret hidden, they can and probably will.

However, it’s more typical for them to reflect on their dishonest behaviour while their partner isn’t there.

This is true for both little and huge secrets, such as infidelity, or skipping a social gathering.

Those who cheat on their spouse occasionally need to make an effort to hide their infidelity & end up with more lies and secrets.

7) It causes anxiety

An inclination to keep things a secret is known as “self-concealment,”

It is linked to physical aches and anxiety.

Even after taking explanatory factors like self-reflection into account, it still doesn’t eliminate the fact that some things need to be let out.

8) It Becomes a Burden

10 Consequences Of Keeping Secrets

One of the consequences of keeping secrets is that people find themselves on the pathway of burden.

This happens when they keep other people’s secrets.

They naturally think about the secret because they have to deliberately keep it hidden on the other person’s behalf.

9) Work Liability

One of the greatest consequences of keeping secrets is the cost of secrecy such as social and psychological impairments.

This can cause less productivity and mental health issues.

Those particularly vulnerable to the effects of keeping sensitive secrets include professionals like police officers, therapists, social workers and intelligence officers.

Also Read: 4 PRACTICAL WAYS TO PROMOTE WELL-BEING AT WORK.