Chronic Shame Research Articles

Chronic Shame: Emotional Navigation Through Segregation, Migration, and Ethnic Phobia

This article explores the experience and implications of shame among migrants and refugees, illustrating how societal attitudes, particularly anti-Muslim and anti-Caucasian sentiments, perpetuate feelings of exclusion and self-depreciation. Utilizing the author’s personal narrative as a refugee, it unveils how negative stereotypes and the mass media’s portrayal of people from the North Caucasus in Russia contribute to a “them vs. US” mind-set. This division fosters a social environment where Caucasians and Muslims feel alienated, not only by their visible ethnicity but also through systemic oppression. Shame emerges as a crucial emotion for those stigmatized due to their ethnic or religious backgrounds, underscoring the need for more inclusive societal attitudes that recognize the diverse contributions of all cultural groups. The article argues that shame is not an individual failing but a consequence of broader social and political narratives that marginalize entire communities, pointing toward the necessity of acknowledging and addressing these issues to foster a more understanding and unified society.

A pilot cross-sectional investigation of chronic shame as a mediator of the relationship between subjective social status and self-rated health among middle-aged adults

ABSTRACT Subjective social status (SSS) is an important independent predictor of health outcomes, however, the pathways through which it affects health are poorly understood. Chronic shame has previously been suggested as a potential mechanism but this has never been investigated and the relationship between chronic shame and health is under-researched. The purpose of this pilot study was to explore whether chronic shame explains a significant portion of the association between SSS and self rated health (SRH). Two-hundred American adults aged 30–55 years were recruited via a crowd-sourcing platform and were asked to provide information on their SSS, level of chronic shame, and SRH. Chronic shame significantly mediated the relationship between SSS and SRH. This pilot study provides initial evidence that shame explains a significant portion of the relationship between subjective social status and self-rated health. These findings support the initiation of larger, longitudinal investigations into chronic shame as a mediator of the subjective social status and self-rated health relationship.

Exploring the Unique Therapeutic Potential of Psychedelics to Reduce Chronic Shame Among Sexual and Gender Minority Adults

Exploring the Unique Therapeutic Potential of Psychedelics to Reduce Chronic Shame Among Sexual and Gender Minority Adults

The Horizons of Chronic Shame

Experiences of shame are not always discrete, but can be recurrent, persistent or enduring. To use the feminist phenomenologist Sandra Lee Bartky’s formulation, shame is not always an acute event, but can become a “pervasive affective attunement” (Bartky, 1990: 85). Instead of experiencing shame as a discrete event with a finite duration, it can be experienced as a persistent, and perhaps, permanent possibility in daily life. This sort of pervasive or persistent shame is commonly referred to as “chronic shame” (Pattison, 2000; Nathanson, 1992; Dolezal, 2015). Chronic shame is frequently associated with political oppression and marginalization. In chronic shame, it is the potentiality of shame, rather than the actuality, that is significant. In other words, the anticipation of shame (whether explicit or implicit) comes to be a defining feature of one’s lived experience. Living with chronic shame has important socio-political consequences. Thus far, chronic shame has eluded simple phenomenological analysis, largely because chronic shame often does not have a clear experiential profile: it is frequently characterised by the absence rather than the presence of shame. The aim of this article is to provide a phenomenology of chronic shame, drawing from Edmund Husserl’s formulation of the ‘horizon’ as a means a to discuss structural aspects of chronic shame experiences, in particular how chronic shame is characterised by structures of absence and anticipation.

Christian Shame and Religious Trauma

The analysis of religious trauma is enriched by considering how it may be produced by formation in chronic shame. The testimony of those who have experienced religious trauma and severe religious shame is essential to interdisciplinary understanding of and response to this harm. The experiences of those harmed indicates that some traditional Christian doctrinal interpretations are shaming. Thus, the potential for Christian communities to create climates of chronic shame and cause religious trauma is present wherever such theological interpretations dominate. In this way, the religious teachings themselves, especially when communicated in chronically shaming environments, are traumatizing. In this approach, Christian religious trauma is not an added element to traumas of domestic, physical, or sexual abuse by a religious person or leader. Instead, the source of the trauma is formative experience of participating in Christianity. Religious trauma merits interdisciplinary study in Religious Studies and trauma studies, as well as Christian theology. Theological response to Christian religious trauma contributes to this interdisciplinary need.

Body-related shame or guilt? Dominant factors in maladaptive eating behaviors among Hungarian and Norwegian university students

The main purpose of our study was to examine the psychometric properties of Conradts' Weight- and Body-Related Shame and Guilt Scale (WEB-SG) and associations of body shame and guilt with maladaptive eating behaviors and general chronic shame among Hungarian and Norwegian university students. Therefore, we collected data from 561 university students from both nations in a cross-sectional questionnaire study. Participants completed the following standardized self-report questionnaires in this online survey: WEB-SG, Eating Attitude Test-26 (EAT-26) and Experience of Shame Scale (ESS). We tested the measurement model of the WEB-SG with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and we performed CFA with covariates analysis to examine the association between WEB-guilt (WEB-G) and WEB-shame (WEB-S) and predictors. Our empirical model of WEB-SG has adequate fit with Conradts’ theoretical model among both samples. The body-related guilt positively associated with dieting and negatively related to oral control in both groups. We found a significant positive relationship between WEB-S and BMI in Hungarian sample. According to our results, WEB-SG is an adequate questionnaire for assessing weight and body-related shame and guilt in Hungarian and Norwegian non-clinical samples. Maladaptive weight and body-related guilt could be a relevant factor in proneness to anorexia. Our results highlight WEB-G and WEB-S as two critical factors in the assessment and treatment of eating difficulties.

In the "Shadow of Shame": A Phenomenological Exploration of the Nature of Shame Experiences in Medical Students.

Shame occurs when an individual blames a globally flawed self for a negative outcome. Much of the focus on shame in medical education has been directed toward graduate medical education with less recognition paid to shame occurring in medical school. In particular, while research has explored the triggers of medical students' shame, little is known about what shame feels like, what it makes an individual want to do, and what perceived effects it causes. Thus, this study asks: After shame has been triggered in medical students, how is it experienced? The authors selected hermeneutic phenomenology to provide a rich description of the structures and meaning of medical students' lived experiences of shame. Sixteen medical students from a private medical school in the United States were recruited for the study. Data were collected using one-on-one semistructured interviews and analyzed in accordance with Ajjawi and Higgs' 6 steps of hermeneutic analysis. Data analysis yielded component parts of participants' shame experiences, including affective feelings, physical manifestations, cognitive processes, action tendencies, and effects. Analysis of the relationships among these component parts yielded specific phenomenological structures, including patterns of shame (e.g., chronic shame, flashbacks), self-evaluative processes (e.g., battling voices, skewed frames of reference), and perceived effects of shame (e.g., isolation, psychological distress). An overarching theme of shame as a destabilizing emotion emerged across the dataset. Shame is a complex emotion in medical students that, through its destabilizing effects, can lead to withdrawal, isolation, psychological distress, altered professional identity formation, and identity dissonance. The authors highlight the possibility that shame may be occurring as a response to educational trauma, present a metaphor of dominoes to conceptualize the destabilizing nature of shame, and outline the implications for individuals and institutions in medical education.

Is Shame Managed Through Mind-Wandering?

Shame is a notoriously unpleasant emotion, and although claims about the mechanisms through which we might manage it are none too scarce, relatively little empirical evidence is available concerning how people tend to cope with it. As such, the present study sought to investigate the effects of shame on mind-wandering. To do this, 120 participants were recruited and systematically assigned to one of the three groups, namely shame, pride, or control condition, and traits shame and self-compassion were measured for each participant. In order to assess the frequency of the incidents of mind-wandering, the participants were asked to recall a personal experience of shame or pride and then a reading task of few pages of geography followed. The duration participants spent on the reading task, their scores on a reading comprehension test, their self-reported frequency of mind-wandering, and their reported number of unrelated thoughts during the recall were used as a measure of mind-wandering. The results demonstrated that participants in the shame condition did not differ from those in the pride and control conditions in terms of mind-wandering. In spite of that, participants who had initially scored higher on trait shame (i.e., suffered from chronic shame) reported a significantly higher frequency of mind-wandering. This being the result, the underlying reasons for, and implications of, the findings were discussed.

Is Chronic Shame a Life Sentence?

Shame is a painful, universal emotional response to a failure, shortcoming, or other wrongdoing of what society demands or what a person demands of him or herself. Scientists have learned that very young infants experience shame (as a personal feeling of unworthiness and shame), when they experience rejection-even if it is unintentional. Children, who are admonished for doing something over which they have limited or no control, are also capable of feeling shame. On a more serious, long-lasting scale, physical and sexual abuse and other traumatic experiences, particularly those that happen directly to the child, without adequate intervention, may lead to the development of shame as well. Considering the origin of the shame-wound is critical as well. If one is the child of abusive and/or addicted parents, their shame could have been an emotional and psychological transplant. Assessing if the shame is a consequence of actions, inactions, or someone elses conflicts, can allow for internal conflict resolution.

Understanding and Treating Chronic Shame: A Relational/Neurobiological Approach by Patricia A. DeYoung, Routledge, New York, 2015, 190pp.

Understanding and Treating Chronic Shame: A Relational/Neurobiological Approach by Patricia A. DeYoung, Routledge, New York, 2015, 190pp.

Trauma, Dissociation, and Chronic Shame – Reflections for Couple and Family Practice: An Interview with Kathy Steele

Dissociation and shame are pervasive in unresolved trauma and can be hard to recognise. It is not uncommon for couples and families who present for relationship counselling to have a history of trauma, and relational therapists need to be able to identify and know how to work with these individual symptoms in systemic work. Current trauma literature emphasises the importance of incorporating a somatic therapy focus alongside more traditional cognitive approaches. This interview with international trauma expert Kathy Steele includes an introduction to her work and reflections on its relevance for couple and family practice. In the interview Steele outlines her understanding of dissociation and chronic shame and how to work clinically when they are present.

Special Issue: Relational Trauma and Family Therapy

Special Issue: Relational Trauma and Family Therapy

ПСИХОЛОГІЧНІ ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ПРОФІЛЮ САМОСТАВЛЕННЯ ОСОБИСТОСТІ В ЗАЛЕЖНОСТІ ВІД РІВНЯ ПРОЯВУ ПОЧУТТЯ СОРОМУ

A sense of shame is a part of the social being of a person. Formation of the ability to experience shame derives from inclusion in social interaction and is determined by external and internal factors. But any feeling in certain circumstances may increase in level and cease to be adequately relevant to the external situation, thus destroying some connections with one’s own Self and external reality. A sense of shame acts as an integral characteristic of the relations of an individual and is defined as a regulator of internal - relationships with oneself. According to the research results by V. Stolin, the macrostructure of self-attitude of self-respect, autosympathy, self-interest, which, due to the additivity of this structure, are integrated into the general feeling of positive or negative attitude towards oneself. The structure of self-attitude also has three levels − cognitive, emotional and behavioural. Self-attitude is capable of self-regulation, in accordance with internal or external changes. Among the internal factors that have significant impact on self-steering, its components and regulatory function is a sense of shame as a component with common tangible components. In the course of the research into the sense of shame, the author found that some individuals, in case of frequent or intense experience of shame can feel shame constantly − they have the so-called chronic shame. The author assumes that chronic shame has a negative effect on self-attitude of a personality, reducing its function of self-regulation. As a result of the statistical analysis of the data obtained, it has been established that both shame and self-attitude of the person have a regulatory function. These components of a conditionally healthy personality are interrelated and this relationship is manifested in the fact that the level of feeling of shame and the frequency of experiencing the situation of shame affect the self-attitude of the individual, especially its components - self-confidence, self-sensation and self-respect. Chronic shame decreases the regulatory functions of the individual, reducing the overall level of self-attitude. This is due to the fact that a person with chronic shame tends to apply protective mechanisms to avoid painful feelings that originate from enormously high levels of shame.

To see in a mirror dimly. The looking glass self is self-shaming in borderline personality disorder

Symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD) can be conceptualized as the expression of and defenses against or response to the painful emotion of chronic shame, which may relate to early maladaptive schemas (EMS). The goal of this research is to examine levels of early maladaptive schemas, self-reported shame, and anxious or angry reactions to social put-downs as well as their associations. We also looked to assess the association of shame with BPD symptoms. Fifty-six patients with BPD completed self-report measures of EMSs, chronic shame, and reactions to put-downs. Comparison groups consisted of 24 patients without personality disorder (non-PD) and 80 healthy controls (HC). Those with BPD reported higher levels of EMSs, characterological, behavioral and bodily shame, and were more prone to react with anxiety and anger than non-PD patients and HC subjects. EMSs domains had specific associations with chronic shame and reaction types to social put-downs. Identity disturbances were associated with characterological, behavioral and bodily shame. Stormy relationships were associated with bodily shame. Chronic shame and anxious and angry reactions to social put-downs are prominent in patients with borderline personality disorder and are associated with specific EMS domains and with the symptoms of identity disturbance and stormy relationships.

Effects of brief mindful breathing and loving-kindness meditation on shame and social problem solving abilities among individuals with high borderline personality traits

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe mental condition characterized by a range of cognitive and behavioral vulnerabilities, including chronic shame and deficits in social problem solving (SPS) abilities. Little research however, has examined strategies that may alleviate shame and SPS deficits among individuals with BPD traits. Using a laboratory experimental approach, the present study compared the effects of a brief mindfulness versus loving-kindness meditation (LKM) induction on shame and SPS abilities in a sample of adults with high BPD traits. Eighty-eight participants underwent a shame induction procedure involving recall of a negative autobiographical memory. They were then randomly assigned to 10 min of mindful breathing or LKM, or a no-instruction condition. Shame and SPS abilities were assessed via visual analogue scales and the Means-Ends Problem Solving task respectively. Results indicated that there were significant decreases in shame from pre-to post-regulation in the mindfulness group versus the LKM and no-instruction groups. Groups did not differ on changes in SPS abilities from pre-to post-regulation. Overall, the findings support the efficacy of mindfulness as a strategy to regulate shame among individuals with BPD traits, and raises questions with regard to the utility of LKM in modulating shame in the context of high emotional arousal.

Health-related shame: an affective determinant of health?

Despite shame being recognised as a powerful force in the clinical encounter, it is underacknowledged, under-researched and undertheorised in the contexts of health and medicine. In this paper we make...

Chronic shame: A perspective integrating religion and spirituality

ABSTRACTChronic shame is of major significance in social work, because it is at the root of problems that social workers confront daily, including various mental health disorders and addictions. Current research, however, has not adequately explored the role of religion and spirituality in causing and treating chronic shame. In this article, the author synthesizes and analyzes a wide range of literature from secular and faith-based sources to present the causes and consequences of shame; discuss the interaction of religion and spirituality with the development and healing of shame; and consider implications for clinical practice.

Shame, trauma, temperament and psychopathology: Construct validity of the Experience of Shame Scale.

Although Experience of Shame Scale (ESS) is used in clinical research and it covers psychiatrically relevant dimensions of chronic shame, characterological (CS), behavioral (BS) and bodily (BoS) respectively, its factor structures were not confirmed on clinical sample. The goals of our research were to examine the factor structure of the Hungarian version of ESS, in addition, to analyze the associations between factors of ESS and different types of predictors, such as clinical status, gender, age, school years, early abuse history, general psychopathology (GSI), and temperament dimensions by using a series of confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) with covariates in a large clinical and matched healthy sample. Psychiatric inpatients (N=148) and healthy control subjects (N=148) participated in this cross-sectional questionnaire study. In both samples, the degree of fit was adequate. The final CFA with covariates model showed significant and positive associations between CS and clinical status and education respectively, between CS, BS, BoS and frequency of verbal abuse, between CS and BoS and GSI and between CS and BS and harm avoidance and in addition we found negative associations between each of the shame factors and age. Our results support the psychiatric validity of the ESS construct.

Chronic illness-related shame and experiential avoidance mediate the impact of IBD symptomatology on depression

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is group of chronic diseases that cause symptoms such as abdominal pain, urgent diarrhoea and fatigue, as well as associated complications (e.g., arthritis). Literature has pointed that IBD may cause depressive symptomatology, which seems to aggravate physical symptoms in a cycle of depression and inflammation. This study's aims to examine the mediator roles of chronic illness-related shame and experiential avoidance in the relationship between IBD symptomatology and depression, while controlling for associated medical complications. The sample comprised 161 adult IBD patients (52 males and 109 females), with a mean age of 36.73 (SD = 10.93), that completed validated measures. The hypothesised model was tested through path analyses. Results (see Fig. 1) showed that although IBD symptomatology presented a direct effect of .13 on depression, the majority of its impact was mediated through chronic illness-related shame and experiential avoidance with an indirect effect of 0.22. Indeed, IBD symptomatology seemed to lead to higher chronic illness-related shame, which presented a direct effect on depression of .15 and an indirect effect mediated by experiential avoidance of 0.37. This model presented excellent goodness-of-fit indices. These findings suggest that targeting shame and experiential avoidance in IBD patients would have beneficial outcomes for patients’ well-being. It thus seems that compassion and acceptance-based psychotherapies should be included in treatment programs for IBD.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Guilt, shame and fear of death predict neonatal intensive care unit-related parental distress

Objective: To explore the relationship between parents’ personality proneness to negative self-conscious emotions (guilt, shame and fear of death) and the stressfulness associated with their newborn’s hospitalisation in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Background: Parents commonly blame themselves for their newborn’s hospitalisation and this self-blame may be characterological (shame-based) and/or behavioural (guilt-based) in type. The NICU experience may threaten parents’ cultural worldviews and self-worth, thereby making it mortality-salient. Method: Self-report questionnaires were used to measure NICU-related parental distress, guilt, shame and fear of death in 88 mother–father dyads. The Actor–Partner Interdependence Model method of dyadic analysis was used to measure actor (intrapersonal) and partner (interpersonal) self-conscious emotion effects with parental distress. A mediation analysis was performed to determine if fear of death mediated the relationship of guilt and shame with parental distress. Results: Shame and fear of death had significant actor effects with mothers’ and fathers’ distress, whereas chronic guilt had a significant actor effect with mothers’ distress. None of the partner effects was statistically significant. Overall, these self-conscious emotion predispositions explained 21% of the variance in mothers’ distress and 28% of the variance in fathers’ distress. Fear of death partially mediated the relationship of chronic guilt and shame with parental distress. Conclusion: Personality proneness to chronic guilt, shame and especially fear of death predicted NICU-related parental distress. These self-conscious emotions are aversive and parents may be reluctant to disclose them, yet emotional disclosure may benefit parents’ short- and long-term physical and psychological health.