
Little clues can lead us towards honest introspection. Greater benefit comes when we open up to a trusted person, one who recognizes their own brokenness (a wounded healer). Optimal is when the person has recovered from the same compulsion.
Fear paralyzes us. We mistakenly think no one else would understand let alone share our defects of character. Shame from past bad experiences of opening up to a dangerous person can also make it more difficult.
Look for someone with a limp.
"Never trust a man who has not had a bone-jarring encounter with his own depravity."
~Nate Larkin