ABSTRACT
According to classic psychoanalytical theory, that past would be represented in the present of the relationship with the therapist and this relationship should always be the axis of intervention. This chapter shows that some of the dynamics and outcomes of shame and humiliation. The feelings of humiliation and shame share an early fixation, a sensation of collapse of the ego, and a feeling of critical detachment from the internal judgemental instances of the subject. It is necessary to differentiate the action of humiliation from the feeling of humiliation. Being a victim of numerous humiliations and not confronting them, as was the case with Vinicius, whose rebellions were systematically squashed, might structure the subject into resentment. The chapter reviews several hypotheses that link these emotions to social and cultural situations as well as to different evolutionary stages.
