Gossip is something that can have a positive influence as well as a negative one, a clinical psychotherapist has said.
It comes after Pope Francis said over the weekend that gossip "is a plague more awful than COVID".
He said: "When we see a brother or sister make a mistake or with a defect the first thing we do is go tell others about it. We gossip."
In his address, the Pope urged everyone to "make an effort not to gossip".
Speaking to Kieran Cuddihy on The Hard Shoulder today, clinical psychotherapist Stephanie Regan said she doesn't believe you can really stop people gossiping.
She observed: "I think it's very inherent to our nature. Gossiping has some positive qualities, if you like.
"When we think about gossip, we think it's always malicious - that people are always saying bad things. But in reality, if we think of gossip more as talking about people who aren't present... it's not always negative. There's actually quite a few good parts to it.
"We're such social beings. It's well shown in research that people like to gossip. I think of it as sort of social chit-chat, rather than always negative."
Ms Regan noted that gossiping can often keep people in the loop socialising, and to also 'regulate' groups when it comes to what is and isn't acceptable behaviour.
She said: "If people are in a group, and they hear about something very negative someone has done, it's been quite well shown that people's heart rates go up.
"But if they're allowed gossip about the incident or the event, their heart rate goes down. It has an effect on the body of actually calming the body a little bit."
However, she stressed that gossip can become a more negative influence when people tell 'untruths' about others.
She suggested: "Some people are very good at damaging the reputations of others, so they will look well themselves. This happens a lot in the workplace.
"[People do it] from a very selfish point-of-view, to elevate themselves and put others down."
