Anonymous Secrets Find Life Online

May 5, 2009 — -- In an age when the Internet has made nearly everything public, even once deeply hidden secrets are surfacing en masse online.

No longer are some women seeking solace in the confessional booth or gossip sessions with close girlfriends. They are looking toward the infiniteness of the digital space to post their inner-most thoughts anonymously.

Women confess things like, "I told my boyfriend that I was on birth control but that was a lie and I ended up getting pregnant with our now 5-year-old child. I guess the interesting thing is I don't really know if I want to be a mother and honestly I don't think I am happy with my husband ironic huh? "

And Web sites like experienceproject.com allow users to spill their guts online without identifying themselves.

And that's just what user Mechelle did on the site when she confessed, "My almost 21-year-old son I can't stand his girlfriend in fact I dislike her so much I have secretly text her pretending to be her ex-boyfriend."

The 40-something Mechelle is a frequent visitor of the Experience Project. She often posts her own secrets and reads others' several times a week on the site, which went online in April 2007.

Mechelle is one of the site's 2 million monthly unique visitors.

For the northern California resident, who asked that her last name be withheld, the allure of sharing inner thoughts publicly is a release.

"I wanted to get it off my chest because it's kind of one of those grey and black areas you feel good but you feel a little kind of sneaky," Mechelle said of posting the secret about her son's relationship.

But according to some psychiatrists, revealing secrets can have a cathartic affect.

"Secrets can be erosive and I think if you hold onto things that are really preoccupying and are sitting heavily in your mind and body, they can take their toll," said Dr. Catherine Birndorf, a psychiatrist at New York Presbyterian Hospital.