When it's okay to spread gossip....

I try to not spread gossip about others. Of course, I might gossip a little, but not when it means betraying someone's trust.  When I manage to spread gossip, I might talk about a situation, but I'll never talk about a specific person because each individual is special but their situation is not. Psychologist, Carl Jung, determined that we're all joined across cultures, race, and religion by what he termed a "collective unconscious," and our experiences are similar. So "if you see something, say something."
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When I share, it's with the intention that somebody, somewhere, needs to know that they are not alone in the things they experience. Someone, somewhere is facing the same trauma or facing a similar dilemma. Sometimes, people just need to know that others face a situation similar to theirs. For example, I was watching Dr. Phil today and trying to understand this horrendous story about a girl abused by her father from age six to age seventeen. After extreme abuses of all kinds, she was a drug addict but she still loved her father despite finally reporting him and helping to send him to prison. Although he was in prison, she still wanted him to walk her down the aisle on her wedding day. The girl's mother guessed that her daughter would live with her father if given the chance. The girl felt that her father victimized her and allowed others to do so, but he protected her as well. The girls was confused about her feelings. ********************************************************************************************************************
Dr. Phil, of course, brought in the experts and offered some help from Hannah's House, a place of refuge and psychological repair http://www.hannahshouse.org. He also explained that the girl's psychological development had been arrested at an early age and her problem-solving skills had been compromised by the drug abuse, the physical abuse and psychological devastation. I rarely watch Dr. Phil because when I do, I end up watching other programs, but I'm glad I watched today. Dr. Phil wanted to share this story because he said there are others who experience the same (which is hard to believe because the mother had no idea it was happening even with other children in the home & noone informed her!) No one said.
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I try to say something as polite as I can, and I try to not gossip, but when I do, it's a share! http://www.drphil.com.