ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the clinical advantages in the analyses of adults of considering the similarities between shame and guilt. It emphasizes that the clinically valuable distinctions between shame and guilt in adults are descriptive and are related to the fantasies associated with each affective experience. The chapter explains the descriptive distinction between shame and guilt while emphasizing their over-determined nature and their relationship to infantile sexual conflict. The analytic data are from two patients at different stages of their analyses. Although these patients would be considered different diagnostically, shame was a prominent aspect of the life experiences of each. The data emphasize that shame and guilt are related aspects of all patients' experiences. They may be found in patients with all diagnostic labels and at any stage of their analyses. The analyst who listens from a theoretical perspective that categorically separates these affects will have a tendency to be satisfied and stop analysing after a conflict concerning shame has been interpreted on a pre-Oedipal level.
