They have a bizarre ritual on some Philippine island to deal with purging guilt. It's religiously based of course. On Sundays, these ravaged devotees file off to a church with a floor that's entirely strewn with erect nails. By the time their blood starts to streak down their flesh, they believe themselves purged of sin. They would rather torture themselves with a chunk of peace of mind then to live with the onus of livelihood ruining guilt.
Guilt leads to vice.
We have the equivalent of the bloody aisle method in a more tolerable form. The confessional booth. The AA meeting. The humility high as sin eraser. If I let it all out honestly to someone I am afraid of being honest with and it works and they still love me, then it means I am fine.