Vicarious shame

We examined an account of vicarious shame that explains how people can experience a self-conscious emotion for the behaviour of another person. Two divergent processes have been put forward to explain how another's behaviour links to the self. The group-based emotion account explains vicarious shame in terms of an in-group member threatening one's social identity by behaving shamefully. The empathy account explains vicarious shame in terms of empathic perspective taking; people imagine themselves in another's shameful behaviour. In three studies using autobiographical recall and experimental inductions, we revealed that both processes can explain why vicarious shame arises in different situations, what variation can be observed in the experience of vicarious shame, and how all vicarious shame can be related to a threat to the self. Results are integrated in a functional account of shame.     

‘Am I a Ceadas child?’: exploring the nature and experience of shame in the psychotherapy of an adolescent boy

Although shame is a central affect running through all phases of psychosexual and social development, it is usually masked by guilt and therefore it is not readily recognised, explored, and understood within the therapeutic situation. Moreover, there is a tendency to treat all shame manifestations as if they operate at the same level. The author proposes the need to distinguish between two qualitatively discrete manifestations of shame states which, albeit intertwined, operate at different levels and require different understanding and technique: a primary, unconscious kind based on psychobiological survival and triggered by a condition of psychic and physical danger, and a secondary, social shame, mainly conscious, based heavily on vision and evoked in social situations. The natural, primary form of shame becomes pathological after catastrophic chronic exposure of the primitive ego to unthinkable anxieties. Such premature rupture of primary skin containment may result in omnipotence-based pathological organisations impeding or precluding acceptance of guilt and need for reparation. Pathological primary shame predisposes the individual to states of pathological secondary shame. When initial traumatic conditions are re-activated and re-experienced in therapy, they may trigger re-enactments and, possibly, a negative therapeutic reaction. Recognising variations and mixed states of primary and secondary shame states, especially when shame is compounded with guilt, can provide guidance in the assessment of the fragility of the ego, and therefore inform our technique and the therapeutic process. This theoretical position is discussed with the help of clinical material from a twice-weekly psychotherapy of a 16-year-old boy imbued with shame compounded with guilt, related to transgenerational objectification and dehumanising experiences.     

When confessing sin feels good

This paper draws on a qualitative study of how young people engaged in two youth ministries in the Church of Norway reflect on sin and shame in relation to their existential dilemmas . The authors analyze this practice through the lens of Hartmut Rosa's concept of resonance, arguing that there is consonance between how young people in the study express shame and the Lutheran understanding of sin as being curved in on oneself. Both sin and shame prevent the subject from being open to the world, thus constituting resistance to resonance. Yet, the practice of confessing sin may be a remedy to this closing in on oneself, as confession affords a resonant space, countering feelings of existential inadequacy caused by both sin and shame. Bringing the concept of vulnerability into the discussion, the paper further argues that confessing sin may prove healing and liberating also for experiences of shame as long as it does not violate the subject's ability to speak with her own voice or involve harmful god-images or harmful power dynamics.     

How do the dynamics of shame influence smartphone addiction of Korean Christian adolescents? A study based on external and internal shame

Individuals with negative feeling such as shame might be vulnerable to smartphone addiction. The present study aimed to explore the relationship of smartphone addiction with external shame and internal shame in a sample of Christian adolescents in Korea. The correlational and causal relationships between Korean Christian adolescents’ smartphone addiction and external shame-including others and God-and internal shame were examined. Through a correlational analysis, the study found that external shame-others, external shame-God, internal shame, and smartphone addiction were all highly correlated with each other. During causal and mediation analyses, it was found that internal shame mediated external shame-others and smartphone addiction and also mediated external shame-God and smartphone addiction. In addition, the study offers a discussion of its finding and suggestions for clinical interventions.     

Changes in Problematic Anger,Shame, and Disgust in Anxious and Depressed Adults Undergoing Treatment for Emotion Dysregulation

Emotion dysregulation, the pervasive difficulty managing negative emotions, is a core problem across mood and anxiety disorders. Anger, shame, and disgust are particularly problematic emotions, impacting both disorder severity and treatment outcome. We previously found that a 16-week dialectical behavior therapy skills training group (DBT-ST) was superior to an activities-based support group (ASG) in decreasing emotion dysregulation in 44 adults with high emotion dysregulation who met diagnostic criteria for an anxiety or depressive disorder. We presently examine these participants’ changes in anger, shame, disgust, and distress using self-reports collected over 6 months during and after treatment. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses show that DBT-ST was superior to ASG in decreasing anger suppression (d = 0.93) and distress (d = 1.04). Both conditions significantly reduced shame, disgust propensity, and disgust sensitivity, but neither was superior for these outcomes. The treatments did not significantly reduce anger expression. Mediation analyses suggest that condition indirectly influenced 4-month anger suppression, shame, and distress through its effect on 2-month emotion dysregulation. These findings suggest that DBT-ST is efficacious for certain problematic emotions and distress in depressed and anxious adults and that common factors may account for some, but not all, of its benefits.     

Long‐Term Outcomes of Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual,and Transgender Recalled School Victimization

The authors examined relationships among recalled and current bullying, shame‐focused coping, and fear of negative evaluation in an adult lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) sample. Findings indicated that attack self, withdrawal, and attack other shame‐focused coping fully mediated the relationship between recalled bullying and fear of negative evaluation. Fear of negative evaluation and current bullying victimization were predicted by shame‐focused coping. Findings suggested the importance of addressing histories of school‐related bullying and shame‐focused coping when counseling LGBT persons.     

Social Phobia and the Experience of Shame: Childhood Origins and Pastoral Implications

While social phobia is typically diagnosed in adolescence, the roots of social phobia are found in childhood experiences of shame. When shame occurs because of a failure to meet a child’s need this creates a fundamental uncertainty which can become internalized in the form of self-contempt. Emotions such as sadness are sometimes forbidden by caregivers, and the expression of natural sexual drives are sometimes prohibited. Such experiences create shame and may keep the person from feeling emotions and drives because shame has displaced the real emotion. The fractures in early relationships can be restored through the healing presence of another. The pastor has access to persons with social phobia who may not be willing to seek psychiatric care and is in a unique position to bring the resources of the church to bear in the lives of persons with social phobia. To do so, she moves away from the extroverted frame of reference within which the church frequently operates.Philip Browning Helsel, a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, serves as a Chaplain Resident in the Clinical Pastoral Education program at Yuma Regional Medical Center in, Yuma, AZ     

When majority members exclude ethnic minorities: The impact of shame on the desire to object to immoral acts

In recent years, ethnic minorities have experienced an increase in acts of exclusion. In two studies, we demonstrated how ingroup members' felt shame about such immoral behavior explained their desire to pro‐socially object to this immorality by distancing from the perpetrating ingroup and by wanting to support the affected minorities. We showed how the desire to pro‐socially object varies as a function of national identification. As expected, nationally attached identifiers' felt shame for the immoral behavior was linked with greater willingness to pro‐socially object to it. The opposite pattern was found for nationally glorifying identifiers. In the second study, we found that anger directed at the ingroup partially explained the relationship between group‐based shame and the pro‐social desire to object. The results contribute to the literature on shame and pro‐social motivations by showing that distancing from the perpetrating ingroup can be considered as a pro‐social strategy rather than a defensive one.     

自我表现还是自我防卫？职场负面八卦对八卦目标行为策略的影响机制

基于社会认知自我调节理论,本研究探讨了职场负面八卦对八卦目标行为的影响机制。对214份员工和领导配对问卷的分析结果表明：羞愧在关于自身的职场负面八卦和印象管理、职场排斥之间起中介作用;关于同事的职场负面八卦对羞愧的中介效应起到调节作用,关于同事的职场负面八卦越弱,关于自身的职场负面八卦通过羞愧对印象管理及职场排斥的预测更加明显。     

Towards a Comprehensive Understanding of Body Image: Integrating Positive Body Image,Embodiment and Self-Compassion

Body image (BI) disturbance is a relevant factor in the etiology and treatment of eating disorders (ED). Although progress has been made in recent decades in understanding BI and its relationship with ED, the efficacy of BI disturbance prevention and intervention programs is still limited. In order to reach deeper understanding of BI disturbance and clarify the interactions between some protective and risk factors related to this construct, we carried out a literature review on some specific BI-related factors that so far have been analyzed independently. We specifically examined positive and negative BI; embodiment and its role in the development of positive and negative BI; and self-compassion as a protective factor that promotes positive embodiment (vs. disembodiment) and protection against body shame. We conclude that integrating the available evidence on these factors into BI models may be used to enhance our understanding of BI and improve the efficacy of prevention and intervention programs to help fight negative BI (by reducing body shame and disembodiment) and promote positive BI (by increasing self-compassion and positive embodiment).     

Shame in Sexual Minorities: Stigma,Internal Cognitions,and Counseling Considerations

Theorists, clinicians, and researchers have suggested that shame is a central concern in the lives of sexual minority individuals. Cognitive theorists believe that shame occurs when a person fails to achieve his or her standards, which are often based on social, cultural, and spiritual values. Although it is asserted that stigma causes shame among members of a sexual minority, the empirical evidence suggests that negative internal cognitions are partly responsible. By targeting negative beliefs, counselors can help sexual minorities reduce their sense of shame, particularly around issues related to sexual identity. The authors offer counseling strategies for reducing shame in sexual minority clients.     

“They suffer mainly from reminiscences”

Shame is a universal affect that everyone would like to avoid. Responses to trauma include profound experiences of shame, which re-emerge in the transference and can be recognized in reciprocal countertransference responses. Primitive defense mechanisms associated with borderline states such as projection, projective identification and splitting, are often encountered during the course of intensive psychotherapies involving traumatic shame. Attempts to avoid shame reactions may involve regressive reactions, even in non-borderline individuals. Shame avoidance may produce transference-countertransference enactments leading to a negative therapeutic reaction. Addressing shame-related issues may be difficult for both therapist and patient, but ultimately are essential for productive therapy and recovery from trauma.     

Eating pathology in female gymnasts: Potential risk and protective factors

Although participation in sports that emphasize aestheticism, such as women's gymnastics, are associated with higher rates of eating pathology, little is known about the risk and protective factors involved in this process. We established and tested a model proposing that body surveillance and body shame are processes by which pubertal development and training may uniquely contribute to pathological eating by sampling 100 competitive female gymnasts via questionnaires. We further tested whether self-esteem moderated several model relationships. Results demonstrated that pubertal development was associated with higher levels of body surveillance, body shame and disordered eating; whereas greater time spent training was associated with lower levels of body shame and disordered eating. Finally higher self-esteem was associated with lower levels of disordered eating, less body surveillance, and less body shame. Potential risk and protective factors for the development of eating pathology in female gymnasts are discussed.     

Lingering guilt and shame: Emotional burdens upon those who intended but failed to apologize

ABSTRACT

Prior research has shown that greater willingness to apologize for an offense is prompted by greater guilt but lesser shame. Yet little work examined whether apologies indeed resolve moral emotions. This study investigated how the absence of apology psychologically affects harm-doers when they recall a past offense. Undergraduates (N = 284) were randomly assigned to one of the four experimental conditions wherein they recalled a past incident in which they hurt, offended, angered, or had some other negative effect on another person. Harm-doers who intended but failed to apologize reported greater PFQ-2 state guilt and shame, compared to others who refused to apologize or whose apologies were rejected. However, similar results were not found for ESS state shame. Results suggest that failing to apologize may impede transgressors from relieving moral emotional burdens, but only for those who intended to apologize.     

Adult Attachment and Dyadic Adjustment: The Mediating Role of Shame

Although it is widely recognized that adult attachment is associated with romantic relationship quality, the mechanisms involved remain poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate the mediating role of external and internal shame on the association between attachment and dyadic adjustment. A battery of self-report measures was completed by 228 Portuguese participants and a serial multiple mediation model was tested. Data showed that, in the population under study, attachment dimensions were associated with worse dyadic adjustment through high external and internal shame. Internal shame alone also mediated the association between attachment avoidance and dyadic adjustment. This study identifies a new putative mechanism linking adult attachment and intimate relationship functioning that may be targeted in couples therapy to promote a better dyadic adjustment and relationship functioning.     

Bisexual Issues in Same-Sex Couple Therapy

SUMMARY

The bisexual identity of a partner in a same-sex couple may not be an issue in the relationship, or it may introduce fear, mistrust, and divisiveness. Mixed-orientation couples face problems stemming from the dichotomizing of sexuality, negative myths and stereotypes, and lack of awareness of models and resources. It can be particularly problematic when a partner's bisexuality is first addressed within a committed relationship. Case examples illuminate some of the issues. Therapeutic tasks include addressing the context of oppression, assessing developmental stages of sexual identity and the relationship, clarifying personal meanings of bisexuality, providing education and resources, and, possibly, facilitating negotiations regarding safer sex and polyamory. Optimal couple therapy provides affirmation of bisexuality, validation of same-sex relationships, and reflection of the partner's and relationship's strengths.     

The shame of being undone by illness and the power of support through the body of Christ

This paper examines shame that arises from living with a body that has been undone by cancer or other serious illness. It draws on first-person narratives and social-scientific studies of cancer patients to explore how bodies undone by illness often cease to conform to cultural standards of health as well as gendered expectations of bodies, and how experiences of shame arise from those shifts in how sick bodies appear and perform. Analysis of narratives by and qualitative data about those who are seriously ill also reveals how the undoing of the body by illness often precipitates an undoing of one's sense of self that leads to experiences of shame over an inability to fill roles and expectations in ways that were possible in life before serious illness. The paper then utilizes biblical and theological resources to explore ways religious communities can make space for those living with serious illness to lament what it's like to be undone by illness, to hold them up amid their experiences of vulnerability through public lament and acts of accompaniment, and to affirm their worth in the eyes of God and in the body of Christ.     

Sartre and Fanon: The Phenomenological Problem of Shame and the Experience of Race

ABSTRACT

This paper argues that existing accounts of shame are incomplete in so far as they don’t take account of the problem of shame. This is the problem concerning the possibility of a primary experience of shame. It is the problem Sartre considers under the terms of a “primitive shame” or shame “in its primary structure” that grounds other more complex experiences of shame. This problem is centred on the tension between shame as an immediate, pre-reflective experience and the requirement that shame must involve an awareness of some definitive aspect of the self. I’m going to suggest, correlatively, how by trying to resolve this problem we end up with a more nuanced understanding of shame. In the second part of the paper, I go on to look at how this new interpretation of shame helps us understand race. Looking at Fanon, I explore how a fundamental and overlooked ineffability in our relation to others impacts upon responses to racialized shame.     

Lesbian Couples and Their Parents: The Effects of Perceived Parental Attitudes on the Couple

Twenty respondents, each of whom was in a committed couple relationship, were asked how their parents' attitudes toward (a) their partner and (b) their lesbianism impacted on their relationships with their partners. The study revealed that the adverse consequences of parental disapproval are overshadowed by the benefits to the couple that are derived from the decision to affirm one's lesbian identity and to acknowledge the nature of the couple relationship by “coming out” to parents. The negative impact of secrecy on the couple, the downplaying of parental disapproval, the positive effects on the couple of an affirmed lesbian identity, and the importance of acknowledgment of the lesbian couple are discussed. The author maintains that the counselor working with lesbian couples must be lesbian affirmative, and she suggests eight specific, clinical implications for working with lesbian couples.     

The Origins of Fears of Compassion: Shame and Lack of Safeness Memories,Fears of Compassion and Psychopathology

Empirical and clinical research suggests that some individuals find self-generating compassion and receiving compassion from others difficult and aversive. However, it is unclear how these fears of compassion are linked to early experiences and to psychopathological symptoms. This study explores the relationship between shame traumatic memories, centrality of shame memories, early memories of warmth and safeness, fears of compassion, and depression, anxiety and paranoid symptoms. Participants were 302 individuals from the general community population, who completed self-report measures of fears of compassion, shame memories, early affiliative memories, and psychopathology. Shame traumatic and central memories were positively associated with fears of compassion for self, for others and from others, whereas early memories of warmth and safeness were negatively related to such fears. Path analyses revealed that fears of compassion for self and of receiving compassion from others mediated the effects of shame traumatic memory, centrality of shame memory and early memories of warmth and safeness on depressive, anxious and paranoid symptoms. These findings have implications for therapeutic interventions as these fears, as well as the negative shame-based emotional memories fuelling them, may need to be addressed in therapy to assist patients in self-generating and receiving compassion.