Mutual Affective Consolidation 

Mutual Affective Consolidation (MAC for short) is when your feelings and emotions are consolidated with a mutual individual, preferably a very close and/or intimate one.

Expressing and reflecting on your feelings alone might make yourself feel better, but they lack consolidation. Having someone by your side consolidates those feelings and makes you feel complete. This is not proven, but I think it probably has something to do with the hormone oxytocin. This hormone gets released during very intimate social interactions such as hugging, bonding, and sex. When you deeply express your emotions and feelings, your body is actively waiting to release a full rush of oxytocin but does not because it doesn't detect any social input. In a way, having someone by your side allows you to imprint your emotions onto them, thereby triggering a release of oxytocin. This rush of oxytocin is what makes you feel complete and fulfilled. Again this is all just speculation.

After a brutal day, Sarah was very depressed. She could've cried herself to sleep but instead she called her friend over and she cried her feelings out with her, which made her feel a lot better. Sarah just experienced Mutual Affective Consolidation.

Derek was just not getting the satisfaction he desired when pleasuring himself. After getting a new girlfriend, Derek didn't ask for any sexual favors initially, he just asked her to be by his side when pleasuring himself. He found that pleasuring himself (and climax) with his girlfriend beside him felt much better than when doing it alone. He suspects that Mutual Affective Consolidation is the reason for that.

Mutual Affective Consolidation by Mary Mary Quite The Contrarian January 20, 2022