Keeping secrets may actually brighten your day.

Research has found that keeping good news a secret makes people more alive and energized.

“Decades of research on secrecy suggest it is bad for our well-being, but this work has only examined keeping secrets that have negative implications for our lives. Is secrecy inherently bad for our well-being or do the negative effects of secrecy tend to stem from keeping negative secrets?” Michael Slepian, PhD, lead author of the study and an associate professor of business at Columbia University said in a press statement.

 “While negative secrets are far more common than positive secrets, some of life's most joyful occasions begin as secrets, including secret marriage proposals, pregnancies, surprise gifts and exciting news.”

Published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,  the research involved five experiments with more than 2500 people. 

The researchers sought to understand what motivates people to keep a positive secret and how keeping that secret may impact them in comparison to keeping a secret that was embarrassing or unpleasant.  

The study authors found that people typically had 14 to 15 pieces of good news and that an average of five to six pieces of news were kept a secret.

Those who said they intended to share their good news with another person also said they felt energized, regardless of whether it was a secret or not.

In one experiment, participants were given a list of common forms of good news and were asked to select one that was likely to happen to them in their near future. One group of the participants were then asked to imagine they kept the good news a secret from their partner until later and the other group was asked to imagine they were unable to reach their partner to tell them.

The group that was asked to keep the news a secret until later felt more energized than the other group.

Dr. Carla Marie Manly, a psychologist in California who was not involved in the research, says the results of the study make sense.

“It’s not at all surprising that research indicates that people feel more alive and energized when keeping good news a secret. Unlike the stress that occurs when we keep negative secrets, keeping a good secret confidential creates positive energy.  On a neurobiological level, a surge of feel-good neurochemicals leaves the secret-holder feeling great both before and after the positive news is revealed,” she told Theravive.

“Humans keep secrets for both positive and negative reasons. When we keep negative secrets, we are often afraid of being found guilty or shamed for a certain thought or action.  Positive secrets can be kept for a variety of reasons, such as timing, personal needs, or psychological factors. When a positive secret is maintained—whether regarding a pregnancy, a special gift, or other delightful news—a bond is created between the secret-keeper and those with whom the secret is shared.”

The researchers established that people keep “positive secrets” (a secret that they feel good about) for personal or internal reasons, rather than outside factors like pressure to keep the secret.

In contrast, negative secrets, that people may feel bad about, might be kept because of external pressures like fear.

Manly warns that keeping a negative secret can have an impact on mental health.

“Negative secrets can take a toll on our mental health and physical health. Maintaining a negative secret can actually trigger a flight or flight response; this can cause a surge in stress neurochemicals that affect mental and physical well-being.  Positive secrets can have a wonderful effect on our well-being by fostering mood-boosting neurochemicals.  As well, once the secret is shared, the shared joy and connection that result foster emotional intimacy and bonding,” she told Theravive.

“Positive secrets tend to have no downside when boundaries are respected. If, for example, a secret-holder is pressured into sharing a positive surprise, stress can result. However, if a secret-holder is not pressured to prematurely reveal the surprise, everyone benefits from the sharing the delight when the secret it revealed.  If keeping a secret feels negative in any way, it’s important to check in with yourself to notice why the secret is causing you stress or discomfort.  For example, if a friend asks you to keep a secret about their extra-marital affair, the strain can be immense. In such cases, it’s wise to check in with yourself so that you don’t create an inner conflict that negatively affects your mental and physical health.” 

A new study published in PubMed looked at the case for screening and evidence-based intervention in pregnant Black people to detect depression, anxiety, and stress.

“As part of a larger randomized clinical trial to determine whether a newly created cognitive-behavioral skills building intervention is effective in improving the mental health of pregnant people of color, we screened Black pregnant women for anxiety, depression, and stress,” study author Susan Gennaro RN, PhD, FAAN told us. “In this published study, we were interested in finding out how frequently these conditions occurred and how often they occurred together.”

Other studies have shown that levels of anxiety, depression, and stress were high, but there wasn’t information about the co-occurance of these mental health concerns. New guidelines call for screening of pregnant people (e.g. anxiety and stress) but screening does not always occur and, when it does occur, treatment is not always readily available.

“We were interested in seeing how frequently these conditions occurred and how often more than one condition was experienced,” Gennaro told us. “This is fundamental information needed to plan effective interventions as part of mental health care.”

The researchers used valid and reliable tools that could be answered in a short period of time and had low reading levels such that the results found were valid and reliable. They collected data in three different health sites so that we had generalizable findings.

Black pregnant individuals experienced high levels of comorbid mental health distress including depression, anxiety and stress. Slightly less than half the participants who screened positive experienced two of these conditions reporting being depressed and stressed; 15 being anxious and stressed and seven being depressed and anxious. Notably, 64 reported being depressed, anxious, and stressed.

“We were surprised that 43.1% of the 452 Black pregnant individuals we screened had elevated psychological symptoms,” Gennaro told us. “We were surprised at how many participants experienced multiple mental health symptoms (stress, plus depression, plus anxiety).”

Gennaro believes it is important to screen for stress as well as anxiety and depression and it is imperative to screen for all conditions such that an appropriate resource is available for treatment.

“Mental health is not adequately addressed in the US,” Gennaro told us. “The mental health of the mother has a great impact on the mental health of the infant. Screening and then developing culturally appropriate and readily accessible treatment modalities is an important next step for health care in the U.S.”

Cognitive-behavioral therapy is an established evidence-based treatment for anxiety, depression and stress, yet few people receive it because of the severe shortage of mental health providers throughout the country. The research team’s larger randomized clinical trial is using advanced practice nurses instead of psychiatric mental health providers to deliver a cognitive-behavioral skills building intervention to emotionally distressed pregnant people of color. If found to be effective in reducing depression, anxiety and stress, it could be a promising solution for improve mental health care for pregnant people of color.

A new survey was recently released by the American Heart Association regarding health habits during the holidays. The survey found that nearly 80 per cent of people overlook their health needs during the holidays.

“The survey is about the general trends and attitudes U.S. adults have about stress during the holiday season,” Dr. Glenn Levine told us. Dr. Levine is a volunteer medical expert from the American Heart Association. “Many people do not realize the impact stress can have on heart-health, so the survey is meant to help contextualize how people are feeling during this time of year.”

The survey also found that it takes weeks for over half of people in the U.S. to eradicate stress following the holiday break and mothers in particular say that it takes them a month or more to feel themselves again.

A whopping 70 per cent of U.S. adults who took the survey say they wish they took more downtime during the holidays. Over 60 per cent of U.S. adults who participated in the survey say the holidays are more stressful than tax time. Most Americans who took the survey say they wish they could prioritize sleep, exercise, and healthy eating during the holidays.

“There were some interesting responses,” Dr. Levine told us. “Overall, respondents claimed they find the holiday season more stressful than tax season.”

People also reported they struggle with eating healthy, exercising, and getting enough sleep during the holidays. All these things are important habits to keep up with year-round for better mental and physical health.

“One of the surprising findings is that most people spend this time of year focusing so much on others that they lose sight of their own needs and health, and that once the season is over, they regret not taking the time to enjoy the holidays and relax,” Dr. Levine told us. “It’s a good reminder to prioritize our own health.”

Dr. Levine advises that during the holidays, people shouldn’t completely abandon healthy habits or push off taking care of yourself until the New Year.

“Carve out time every day to decompress, enjoy holiday meals in moderation and stay present during the holidays so you can enjoy the time,” Dr. Levine told us. “Prioritizing your own health is a gift for you and your loved ones.”

A new study published in BMC Public Health looked at married women’s decisions to delay childbearing, as well as loneliness, severe psychological distress, and suicidal ideation under crisis during the pandemic.

“This study intended to find out how pregnancy decisions affect the well-being of women,” study author Midori Matsushima told us. “We used the COVID-19 pandemic as a natural experiment that affected the population as a whole.”

Although previous studies explored associations between well-being and infertility and regrets over the decision to delay childbearing of women who desired a child in later life, they were conducted in fertility clinics with a small number of observations. There has been no study investigating how the decision to delay childbearing is associated with the well-being of the general population.

“The well-being indicators used in previous studies are limited to life satisfaction and regrets,” Matsushima told us. “Therefore, this study aimed to enhance the understanding of the wellbeing of women by utilizing a large Japanese web-based survey targeting the general population with 768 observations.”

In addition, examining loneliness, severe psychological distress, and suicidal ideation can provide more insights into how the decision to delay childbearing is associated with well-being. A significant number of people were postponing pregnancy due to the COVID-19. Researchers used this fact as a natural experiment to examine how pregnancy postponement affects women's well-being with less bias caused by endogeneity.

“I wanted to understand women's well-being in relation to reproductive behaviour,” Matsushima told us. “Given the current social condition, I wanted to understand whether having a child or not is a difficult decision to make particularly for the women who want to pursue one's career.”

There are studies that revealed that women with children are more likely to report lower happiness and life satisfaction, and some women do not recover from postpartum depression. On the other hand, there is anecdotal evidence that reports depression and regrets among women who do not have a child.

Results of the study showed that one fifth of women decided to postpone pregnancy during the pandemic and had decreased mental health. These effects were more prominent in 2021 rather than in 2020. 

“Hence, I thought that this is still an empirical question to solve,” Matsushima told us. “Although having a child or not is one's decision, there are people who do not (think they do not) have a choice because of financial and career reasons. This means that the decision is not completely up to the individual. Society can create better environment that people can freely choose their reproductive behaviour.”

People remember moments immediately after a distressing episode with more clarity than the moment preceding the distressing event.

Research investigating memory and trauma published in Cognition and Emotion could help inform the approach to treating PTSD, assist clinicians in combating memory loss in Alzheimer’s and even improve evaluation of eyewitness testimonies.

“We know that we overall tend to have better memory for emotional events, but not all aspects are equally remembered. Sometimes, memory for contextual details surrounding emotional events is impaired. The same goes for memory for temporal aspects, or the order of events preceding or following emotional events – in some cases, it’s enhanced, whereas in others is impaired. So, we wanted to understand why this is the case,” Florin Dolcos, co-author of the study and a professor of psychology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign told Theravive.

“In the article, we talk about PSTD (characterized by involuntary retrieval of distressing memories), but the impact of emotion on memory goes beyond that. A symptom of depression is rumination: continuously dwelling on negative thoughts and often about personal negative memories. A symptom of anxiety is catastrophizing: assuming that terrible things will happen in the future, often because they have happened in the past. So, understanding how emotion impacts different aspects of our memories in healthy functioning is key to understanding mechanisms of memory distortions in different clinical conditions.”

Florin and Sanda Dolcos have been examining the relationship between memory and mental health for over 15 years.

As part of this study with lead study author Paul Bogdan, the researchers conducted two experiments.

One experiment involved 72 participants viewing a series of images that simulated memories. Half of the images elicited a negative emotional response from the participants, and half were emotionally neutral.

The participants were asked to imagine that they were travelling in the locations seen in the pictures. This was to contextualize the images and make them seem more like memories. They were also asked to make up a story that joined all of the images together.

An hour later, they viewed sets of images in a pair. They were asked whether the second pictures occurred immediately before or after the first pictures, or whether neither option was applicable.

The researchers found that the participants were able to more accurately place the second image if the negative memories from the images happened before the neutral ones.

If the participants saw a negative image first, they were able to better remember the neutral images that followed.

This suggests that memory can flow from the negative to the neutral.

“People have better memory for neutral details about what came after an emotional event compared to what came before it,” Bogdan said.

But studying memory is not without its challenges.

“In the lab, researchers typically try to simulate emotional experiences with negative images, loud sounds, or mild electric shocks. These elicit emotional responses and can shed light on mental illnesses. For instance, studies that have induced stress via these types of techniques have found similarities to the stress associated with anxiety,” Bogdan said.

“However, we are under no illusion that these types of procedures capture the full complexity or weight of mental illnesses. Hence, it is also important to investigate similar issues in clinical groups, which sometimes is a challenge because access to clinical participants is more difficult.”

The researchers argue having an understanding of how people experience memory around negative events could be as helpful in the clinic as in the courtroom.

“Knowing this can inform us to try and focus on recollecting as many details happening before something negative happened, so that we can establish possible causal links leading to that negative event. This is important, for instance, in our social lives, such as when we try to avoid situations leading to arguments, or in legal circumstances, when we may need to testify as witnesses of negative incidents. In both cases, emotion’s impact on reasoning may be linked to its impact on memory,” Dolcos said.