secret self
Inner private person
The secret self is the private inner person that remains hidden from others—the thoughts, desires, fears, and aspects of identity that someone keeps concealed, whether from shame, self-protection, or simply because some parts of consciousness feel too intimate to share.
Her poetry revealed a secret self at odds with her cheerful public persona.
The concept appears in psychology and literature as the gap between who we present ourselves to be and who we feel we actually are.
- hiddenKept out of sight
- shadowLight blocked by object
- dark sideHidden negative aspect
- innerSituated further in
- inner lifeOne's private mental world
private · private thoughts · alter ego · authentic · true · concealed · behind closed doors · depths · hidden depths · soul · unconscious · identity · buried · repressed · intimate · core · essence · vulnerability
- dark sideinner demons, dark thoughts, inner demon, alter ego, forbidden desires
secret selfsocial mask
Performed identity for others
social self · persona · façade · false self · facade
secret, self, secrets, secretly, secrecy, secretive, secretively, secretiveness, secrete