I understand the shame of admitting secrets....but also the shame of holding them close and keeping them secret. A fear of being judged and rejected yes and seen as dirty and unforgivable.....but I guess I've also had the fear of what shame and the shame of the unrevealed secrets or secret beliefs about myself will do to me. And it's like WePow said, hard to weigh the benefits of sharing the secret against the pain of exposure....the benefit of sharing secrets is that the burden is now shared and fear and shame are exposed too, and have less power, and the secret has less power since its power is in being secret.
Some of the things I have shared with my T I simply couldn't share with others. She is only one and it was hard enough, and yet the privacy, and too the intimacy, of it being only her makes it bearable.....I simply can't handle the thought of being exposed/exposing myself and my inmost secrets to a group. To have them see me and me see them seeing me, no! (nope, not even feeling manic makes that a comfortable thought!)
I admire the work you're doing MUE!