Experience Of Guilt Research Articles

The Relationship between Self-Compassion and Predictors of Depressed Mood in Parents of People with Eating Disorders

The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between self-compassion and possible predictors of depressed mood in parents of people with eating disorders. A questionnaire design was conducted cross‐sectionally in a sample of 112 parents of people with eating disorders. Participants completed measures of depressed mood, experiences of entrapment, shame, guilt, self-criticism and self-compassion. Regression analyses showed entrapment and self-criticism to be mediators between the relationship of shame and depressed mood. Self-compassion appeared to reduce the experience of depressed mood through its effect on shame and entrapment. Self-compassion also appeared to reduce the experience of depressed mood through its effect on self-criticism. This study explored processes of depression and the buffering effects of self-compassion on these processes. These findings support an evolutionary understanding of depressed mood and the potential benefits of applying compassion-focused interventions for parents of people with eating disorders.

Best Source of Hope: Care, Solidarity, Disobedience Reflected by the Climate Catastrophe

ABSTRACT The climate catastrophe is a humanitarian catastrophe and can be considered one of the most urgent challenges facing the continued survival of the human species. Starting with a psychodynamic concept of generativity (I) and the experience of guilt and shame associated with it, I then turn to socio-critical discussions of climate and generational justice as an expression of violence and a pathology of the social. These considerations culminate in a call for a form of solidarity based on reciprocity that can be expanded to the issue of solidarity with non-human nature (II). For humanity, the climate crisis presents the challenge of what, in climate jargon, are called social tipping points. In the interaction between the individual and society, disobedience and hope can be grasped in terms of their transformative power. This is explored taking the examples of the figure of Abraham in the Old Testament and that of the Last Generation climate initiative (III).

Consumer guilt proneness scale—Assessing individual differences in responses to transgressive consumption situations

AbstractFeeling or anticipating guilt associated with consumption situations may lead consumers to adjust their behaviors to avoid those unpleasant feelings and better conform to their personal, moral, and social standards. The experience of guilt regarding a consumption situation is influenced by both contextual factors, including marketing communications, and personal traits, namely the individual's proneness to feel guilt related to consumption. While research has examined the influence of contextual variables on guilt, the individual predisposition to feel guilt associated with consumption has received little attention. Understanding individual consumer guilt proneness can assist managers in customizing strategies to diverse guilt responses: recognizing varying susceptibility to guilt enables personalized approaches across the consumer journey, fostering empathetic managerial actions. This understanding can significantly impact consumer satisfaction, loyalty, and the success of marketing strategies. This study conceptualizes and proposes a measure of consumer guilt proneness, the individual tendency to feel guilt regarding transgressive consumption situations. To define the conceptual domain, a literature review is complemented with a qualitative study. Five dimensions corresponding to sources of guilt (health, extravagance, social influence, misevaluation, and ethics and sustainability) create the initial pool of items. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses corroborate the five‐factor measurement model. The final scale demonstrates adequate convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity. Finally, the instrument is cross‐culturally validated in three countries—Portugal, Poland, and Brazil—which not only strengthens the evidence of its validity and reliability but also lends credibility to its broader application in diverse cultural environments, particularly within Western cultures.

How might cancer patients experience existential guilt? A qualitative research.

Existential guilt is a deep and multidimensional concept that is correlated with concepts, such as in/authenticity, existential anxiety, decisiveness, and personal and social responsibility. The aim of the present study is to investigate the experience of existential guilt among cancer patients. The present research was conducted with a qualitative method with a content analysis design. A purposeful sampling method was used to select the participants and the sampling procedure went on until we reached data saturation. Data were obtained using semi-structured interviews with the participants. From a total of 18 interviews, 94 codes related to existential guilt were obtained. After the analysis, three main concepts were extracted: (1) incompleteness, (2) passivity, and (3) feelings of harm to self and others. Each of these had a number of subcategories. The participants of the present research were found to experience existential guilt in different ways. The research showed that it is necessary to find the sources of existential guilt in order that effective therapeutic attention can be given cancer patients.

Guilt, shame, and embarrassment: similar or different emotions? A comparison between Italians and Americans.

Guilt, shame, and embarrassment represent affective experiences with social implications and diverse self-relevant negative affect. While the distinction between these emotion terms has been extensively investigated, little is known about how they diverge and are related to each other and their crosscultural differences. Here, we used a community sample (N = 163) comprised of Americans and Italians and a scenario-based measure in which we asked participants to report the intensity of emotions that the story's main character would feel. The elements used to build the scenarios were based on a recent theoretical approach that proposes distinguishing cognitive, somatic, interoceptive, and behavioral ingredients to differentiate between these emotions. We hypothesized that these ingredients might effectively elicit the target emotions and that the main differences across these cultures would be associated with the emotion terms of shame/vergogna. Our findings suggest that these defining elements are effective in evoking experiences of guilt, shame, and embarrassment. Moreover, we found that shame was equally elicited by the Shame and Guilt Scenarios only in the American sample, thus suggesting a proximity between shame and guilt in the American sample compared to the Italian's terms of vergogna and colpa. These results suggest important implications for the psychology of moral emotions and highlight the importance of taking into account some cognitive factors, such as the quality of self-evaluation, the discrepancy between the actual self and the ideal self vs. the sense of perceived responsibility, and the different domains related to self-esteem.

Does mindless scrolling hamper well-being? Combining ESM and log-data to examine the link between mindless scrolling, goal conflict, guilt, and daily well-being

Abstract This manuscript presents findings from a preregistered mixed-method study involving 67,762 ecological momentary assessments and behavioral smartphone observations from 1,315 adults. The study investigates (a) momentary associations between mindless scrolling, goal conflict, and guilt over smartphone use, and (b) whether guilt experiences during the day culminate into lower well-being. Results indicate that individuals experienced more guilt over their smartphone use when they had mindlessly scrolled for a longer period and that experienced goal conflict partially mediated this relationship. Daily analyses revealed that mindless scrolling was also associated with small negative changes in well-being, and this relationship was partially mediated by guilt experienced over the same day. Individuals with less self-control were more prone to experiencing goal conflict after mindlessly scrolling. These findings indicate that although mindless scrolling may seem a relatively harmless media behavior, it may have both momentary and downstream negative implications for well-being.

Attending to the Moral Meaning of Pain

In addition to a physical and emotional experience, pain is also a morally infused experience with deep, often subconscious, meaning for many sufferers. Whether justified or not, for many people, pain may represent loss, judgement, unworthiness, abandonment, punishment, and even existential suffering and thoughts of death. The moral meaning of pain is what influences the associated experiences of stigma, loneliness, and guilt that contribute to suffering. It is why nurses and other healthcare practitioners have long adhered to a moral obligation to treat those with pain, implying a duty to attempt to make right the wrong of undeserved suffering. Yet the moral meaning of pain is rarely discussed and is often overlooked when establishing a relationship with and a treatment plan for a person with pain. It is the unattended moral meaning of pain that may contribute to unnecessary suffering, futile treatment, and even moral dilemmas in establishing care. In this paper, I explore the definition of morality itself, the moral meaning of pain, and its implications for care. I discuss how moral pluralism in contemporary society contributes to various moral perceptions that influence a person's pain experience and how their pain is treated. Finally, I make the case that using a narrative approach to intentionally look for moral meaning in an individual's pain story may reveal opportunities for more effective pain management options.

A qualitative exploration of the dynamics of guilt experience in family cancer caregivers

Caregiving for cancer patients can cause stress among family caregivers. Caregiving stress is also associated with guilt as they cannot provide adequate care for cancer patients. However, guilt among family caregivers of cancer patients is poorly understood. This qualitative study aimed to explore the dynamics of guilt feelings in families that care for cancer patients. This study involved 45 family caregivers of cancer patients. Thematic data analysis was conducted. There were six themes emerging. Caregiving can be challenging, guilt and blame, guilt due to lack of self-capacity, guilt for neglecting others, no guilt at all, and discussion of guilt and blame as a caregiver. This study offers insight into social workers regarding the challenges and experiences faced by family caregivers of cancer patients. Appropriate health interventions and support should be provided to family caregivers of cancer patients to improve their well-being.

War-Related Life-Making Landscapes: Ukrainian Context

The full-scale military invasion has changed the lives of all Ukrainians forever. The necessity to understand how the traumatic experiences of the first months of the war affected people’s ability of life-making, how it changed this ability was the reason for conducting this study. In April–May 2022, 169 respondents wrote essays based on 4 questions about their experience. The sample consisted of 78% women, 22% men (age M = 43.2, SD = 12), 43.2% had personal experience of being under fire. Descriptive and interpretative analyses, multiple correspondence analyses, and comparative analyses were conducted to identify key variables, types of life-making landscapes, and their possible correlations. The landscape of service (27.8%), care (23.7%), and existential landscape (24.3%) were the most spread. More than half of respondents (54.4%) described the experience of losses of relationship, usual lifestyle, home or earnings. In addition, 16.6% mentioned feeling of guilt. The trajectories of the value-time dynamics that set the type of landscape during war differ from that revealed during the pandemic. The loss of relationships is mentioned most often and the most painful part of the guilt experience is the feeling of helplessness in relation to loved ones. A passive or active position in responding to events and multi-contextual or narrow individual perception of the situation turned out to be the most important for a respondent’s place in the psychological space of the studied variables. Limitations and perspectives are discussed.

Men’s Experiences of Self-Conscious Emotions Following Childhood Sexual Abuse

ABSTRACT Rates of detection and disclosure of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) are believed to be lower in males due to gender socialization fears. The experience of CSA is thought to increase negative self-conscious emotions (shame, guilt, embarrassment, anger, and fear). Such self-conscious emotions have been associated with a range of mental and public health issues. As there has been no research to date that has explored the experience of shame and guilt within the wider context of self-conscious emotional states for males, this research aimed to explore men’s experiences of self-conscious emotions following CSA. Nine semi-structured interviews with males were completed. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis identified three themes: “Invisible In This World” captures participants’ isolating circumstances surrounding their CSA, and how this impacted their perception of not being protected or able to speak out; “The Emotional Fallout” describes the overwhelming emotions experienced as a result of the CSA and how such emotions have impacted participants lives, and “Learning To Live With The Wound That May Never Heal” addresses how participants have spent their lives living with the abuse and how it’s a process to learn how to adapt and live with the abuse. Findings suggest there is a clear need to recognize the role and power of self-conscious emotions in male CSA, especially for healthcare professionals and services supporting males with CSA. Without addressing such self-conscious emotions, males who have experienced CSA are at risk of enduring the emotional fallout throughout their lives.

Consideration of Future Consequences Affects the Perception and Interpretation of Self-Conscious Emotions.

Differentiating guilt from shame expressed by others is important because self-conscious emotions have disparate behavioral consequences. The present study examined whether a future-relevant nature of an event (i.e., future opportunity) and an observer (i.e., consideration of future consequences) can impact the perception and interpretation of shame and guilt experiences. Participants (N = 109) read a scenario that described a target person who neglected his duty on a team project, then rated their perceived intensity of the target's shame and guilt and their estimation of future behavior change by the target. The results showed that the participants who cared about distant future consequences (i.e., high in consideration of future consequences) thought the target person would change in the future when they believed that the target person would have an opportunity (vs. no future opportunity) to change the outcome of the event. This effect was fully mediated by the guilt intensity ratings, indicating that guilt signals future behavior change. The implications for the value of communicating self-conscious emotions are discussed.

Canadian family members' experiences with guilt, judgment and secrecy during medical assistance in dying: a qualitative descriptive study.

Although research briefly mentions that family members have encountered unexpected experiences during the medical assistance in dying (MAiD) process, from keeping MAiD a secret, to being judged and feeling guilty, the potential implications of these are less understood. This study's aim was to examine guilt, judgment and secrecy as part of the MAiD experiences of family members in Canada. We conducted a qualitative descriptive study with 1-hour semistructured interviews by telephone or video from December 2020 to December 2021. Through local and national organizations, we recruited Canadian family members with MAiD experience. A subset analysis of unexpected experiences was conducted, which identified 3 categories: guilt, judgment and secrecy. Similar codes were grouped together within each category into themes. Participants were sent the draft manuscript and their suggestions were integrated. A total of 45 family members from 6 provinces who experienced MAiD from 2016 to 2021 participated. Many people who had MAiD were diagnosed with cancer, comorbidities or neurologic disease. Some participants unexpectedly found themselves managing guilt, judgment and/or secrecy, which may complicate their grieving and bereavement. Numerous participants experienced judgment from relatives, friends, religious people and/or health care professionals. Many kept MAiD secret because they were not allowed to tell or for religious reasons, and/or selectively told others. Family members said they were ill-prepared to manage their experiences of guilt, judgment and secrecy during the MAiD process. MAiD programs and assessors/providers could provide family-specific information to help lessen these burdens and better prepare relatives for common, yet unexpected, experiences they may encounter.

Опыт реализации индивидуально ориентированных восстановительных программ работы с несовершеннолетними правонарушителями с учётом специфики переживания ими вины

Introduction. The development of restorative justice continues to be a topical activity area of the subjects of the juvenile delinquency prevention system over the past decades. The need for its development stems from the high need of state and public institutions to increase the humanistic orientation and scientific validity of traditional measures of criminal law impact on juvenile offenders. The existing rehabilitation programs first of all focus on the application of educational measures to a juvenile offender. At the same time, law enforcement practice largely continues to follow the principles of «adult», mainly punitive justice, and when conducting traditional rehabilitation programs with juvenile offenders, the specifics of their guilt experience are not taken into account.
 Methods. In the course of experimental work carried out at the Temporary Detention Center for Juvenile Offenders of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Perm Region (hereinafter referred to as the Center), not only the psychological characteristics of juvenile offenders that led to the formation of delinquent behavior, but also the specifics of their experience of guilt for the offense committed were studied.
 Results. The reliable data obtained in the course of empirical research served as the basis for sound theoretical generalizations and the development of individually oriented rehabilitation programs, which creation experience is analyzed in this article.

Trauma-Related Shame and Guilt as Prospective Predictors of Daily Mental Contamination and PTSD Symptoms in Survivors of Sexual Trauma.

Mental contamination (MC), the experience of dirtiness in the absence of a physical contaminant, has established links with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Shame and guilt have well-documented relationships with symptoms of PTSD and may play a role in the development and maintenance of MC. The present study examined whether trauma-related shame and guilt prospectively predicted daily MC and symptoms of PTSD among 41 women with a history of sexual trauma. Women completed baseline and twice-daily assessments of MC and symptoms of PTSD over a 2-week period and baseline measures of trauma-related shame and guilt. Two sets of hierarchical mixed linear regression models examined individual and combined fixed effects of baseline trauma-related guilt (guilt cognitions and global guilt) and shame in predicting daily trauma-related MC and symptoms of PTSD. Trauma-related shame positively predicted both daily MC and PTSD. This association remained robust even when accounting for the experience of trauma-related guilt. Neither trauma-related guilt cognitions nor global guilt predicted daily MC or PTSD. While other studies have addressed shame related to sexual assault, this is the first study to demonstrate a positive prospective relationship between shame and trauma-related MC. Findings regarding PTSD and shame are consistent with a growing literature. Further research is needed to better understand the temporal relationships between trauma-related shame, MC, and symptoms of PTSD, including how these variables interact and change over the course of PTSD treatment. A better understanding of the factors influencing the development and maintenance of MC can inform efforts to more easily target and improve MC, and subsequently PTSD.

Why do people (not) share guilt with others?

ABSTRACT Do people share their feelings of guilt with others and, if so, what are the reasons for doing this or not doing this? Even though the social sharing of negative emotional experiences, such as regret, has been extensively studied, not much is known about whether people share feelings of guilt and why. We report three studies exploring these questions. In Study 1, we re-analysed data about sharing guilt experiences posted on a social website called “Yahoo Answers”, and found that people share intrapersonal as well as interpersonal guilt experiences with others online. Study 2 found that the main motivations of sharing guilt (compared with the sharing of regret) were “venting”, “clarification and meaning”, and “gaining advice”. Study 3 found that people were more likely to share experiences of interpersonal guilt and more likely to keep experiences of intrapersonal guilt to themselves. Together, these studies contribute to a further understanding of the social sharing of the emotion guilt.

Guilt, Shame and Academic Misconduct

Moral and self-conscious emotions like guilt and shame can function as internal negative experiences that punish or deter bad behaviour. Individual differences exist in people’s tendency to experience guilt and shame. Being disposed to experience guilt and/or shame may predict students’ expectations of their emotional reactions to engaging in immoral behaviour in the form of academic misconduct, and thus dissuade students from intending to engage in this behaviour. In this study, students’ (n = 459) guilt and shame proneness, their expectations of feeling guilt and shame if they engaged in academic misconduct, and their intentions to engage in academic misconduct were measured. Three of the four facets of the guilt and shame proneness scale [GASP: Guilt–Negative-Behavior-Evaluation (NBE), Guilt-Repair, Shame–Negative-Self-Evaluation (NSE)] had significant negative correlations with academic misconduct intentions, and these relationships were mediated by anticipating shame and guilt related to engaging in academic misconduct. These results suggest that for some students expecting to experience negative moral emotions when engaging in academic misconduct may protect them from breaching ethical assessment rules.

“I felt like I had no options”: Navigating an ultrasound prediction of a large baby in pregnancy

BackgroundPregnancy ultrasound is deeply embedded in maternity care worldwide, undertaken routinely and in response to clinical indicators. Though ultrasound fetal size predictions can be inaccurate, they heavily influence clinical decision-making. As a result, women with a scan prediction of a ‘large’ baby may be more likely to have unnecessary interventions. AimThis study aimed to explore the implications of an ultrasound prediction of a ‘large’ baby on birthing women’s experiences of their pregnancies and births. MethodsThe study was underpinned by feminist poststructural theory. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with women who had an ultrasound prediction of a ‘large’ baby. Transcripts were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, with particular attention to discourse. FindingsDominant medicalising discourses prioritised surveillance and risk-centric care, and problematised large babies. Engagement with these produced oppressive effects on women including loss of control as they were directed towards high intervention care, and the experience of fear and guilt. DiscussionA ‘large’ baby prediction has a negative impact on women’s experiences. Women take up dominant discourses that frame predicted large babies as a medical problem to be managed, with little tangible improvement in outcomes. They struggle with fear and guilt as they experience their pregnancies as sites of risk and are constituted as failed mothers who are responsible for their large babies. ConclusionThe prediction of a ‘large’ baby in pregnancy has undeniably negative impacts on women. We encourage midwives to scrutinise the dominant discourses of authoritative scans and problematic large babies, becoming vectors for critical thinking and resistance.

Experience of guilt in court hearings—Comparing rape, assault and fraud cases

AbstractFeelings of guilt often occur when people are subjected to crime. In this study, guilt is defined as a moral and emotional category, as opposed to the legal guilt. The aim of this study was to investigate how crime victims related to feelings of guilt in the court process. Interviews with plaintiffs in rape cases (10) have been compared to interviews with plaintiffs in assault (10) and fraud cases (10) in order find out if there are differences in the perceptions of guilt for each type of crime. The interviews are analysed by discursive psychology and three interpretative repertoires have been identified: self‐blaming, guilt imposed and guilt resistance. The results show that plaintiffs in rape cases expressed more feelings of being guilt‐imposed compared to plaintiffs in fraud and assault cases. Some plaintiffs in the rape cases describe how they actively opposed what they perceived was guilty‐imposed practices in court.

THE MARVELOUS COMBAT Psychiatric Disability, Martin Luther, and Therapeutic Atonement

Theology and disability studies regularly engage both physical and cognitive impairments, with Peter Bellini’s recent work broadening the field to include even the psychiatric disability of depression (The Cerulean Soul, 2021). Other psychiatric disabilities also stand to be constructively engaged by theological discourse. This study takes up the subjects of anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder, especially variants which feature specifically religious anxiety, moral scrupulosity, and pathological guilt, illustrating how transactional understandings of forgiveness and atonement can covary with the symptomatology of such conditions, possibly even exacerbating them. In response, I conscript Martin Luther’s provocative but oft-neglected description of Christ’s “marvelous combat with the Law” in order to stage a uniquely “therapeutic” outlook on atonement in which Christ’s passion is rendered as a struggle with the uniquely psychological contours of moral performance and the felt experience of guilt under divine judgment, offering embodied hope to the anxious and scrupulous conscience.

The psychophysiology of guilt in healthy adults

Guilt is a negative emotion, elicited by realizing one has caused actual or perceived harm to another person. Anecdotally, guilt often is described as a visceral and physical experience. However, while the way that the body responds to and contributes to emotions is well known in basic emotions, little is known about the characteristics of guilt as generated by the autonomic nervous system. This study investigated the physiologic signature associated with guilt in adults with no history of psychological or autonomic disorder. Healthy adults completed a novel task, including an initial questionnaire about their habits and attitudes, followed by videos designed to elicit guilt, as well as the comparison emotions of amusement, disgust, sadness, pride, and neutral. During the video task, participants’ swallowing rate, electrodermal activity, heart rate, respiration rate, and gastric activity rate were continuously recorded. Guilt was associated with alterations in gastric rhythms, electrodermal activity, and swallowing rate relative to some or all the comparison emotions. These findings suggest that there is a mixed pattern of sympathetic and parasympathetic activation during the experience of guilt. These results highlight potential therapeutic targets for modulation of guilt in neurologic and psychiatric disorders with deficient or elevated levels of guilt, such as frontotemporal dementia, posttraumatic stress disorder, and Obsessive-compulsive disorder.