The culture of shame

Part 1 - Shame: its prevalence and development. 1 The veils of shamme. 2 The language of shame. 3 Close and distant kin. 4 Shame in early childhood. 5 Shame and the inflexible ideal. 6 Wellsprings of shame. Part 2 - Beyond the burden of shame. 7 Taking action. 8 Lifting the burden on your own. 9 Issues in treatment. 10 Success in lifting the burden of shame. 11 Shame in depression, mania, and suicide. Afterword

'...argues that shame pervades our culture. From its early references in biblical stories to the works of philosophers such as Nietzsche and Sartre and contemporary novelists Philip Roth and Toni Morrison, the experience of shame emerges as a theme of human experience. Yet, until recently, professional psychology did not acknowledge the role of shame, focusing instead on guilt....Shame, which Dr. Morrison defines as a feeling of intrinsic self-worthlessness, is now seen to underlie a range of psychological problems....including depression, addictions, and eating and sexual disorders, as well as emotional problems linked to trauma, gender, race, illness, old age, and infertility....'

Hardcover