Health Benefits of Revealing

Abstract

Psychologists and laypersons alike believe that ″confession is good for the soul,″ a theme that frequently has been depicted on talk shows and in popular movies. For example, in the popular 1996 British film. ″Secrets and Lies,″ Hortense, a young black optometrist, sets out to find her birth mother after her adoptive mother dies. Hortense is disturbed to find out that her birth mother, Cynthia, is white. Cynthia is a factory worker who lives in a run-down house with her whiny, moody daughter Roxanne. Hortense calls Cynthia, who initially bursts into tears and refuses to see her. Cynthia has difficulty acknowledging (first to herself, then to others) that Hortense is her daughter. One of her first reactions to seeing Hortense is a sincere denial that she has ever ″been with a black man.″ But before long, a suppressed memory jolts into her consciousness. Eventually, the two develop a warm friendship, and Cynthia invites Hortense to a party with her family and friends. One of the characters in the film notes that it is ″Best to tell the truth, isn′t′ it? That way nobody gets hurt.″ At the party, Cynthia pretends that Hortense is her factory co-worker, which leads her to ever-more convoluted lies. The film climaxes with all the secrets and lies finally spilled out and all the people at the party hugging one another.