ABSTRACT
Clinical experience has taught us that there is an intimate relationship between chronic depersonalisation/derealisation and chronic, unconscious shame. The archaic superego manifests itself by pervasive, internalised, global guilt feelings and shame. These may be conscious or unconscious, with a strong sadistic, that is, sexualised component. Sexualisation is an archaic defence set up to regulate affect. The archaic defences most prominently dealing with the overstimulation inherent in trauma appear to be in Mariah's case: sexualisation, turning passive into active, and identification with the aggressor. The feeling of shame in its multi-layeredness and depth is prominent among the frightening affects induced by trauma. Trauma is an ongoing process, not simply an external event, and they distinguish shock trauma from cumulative trauma. One root may indeed be massive shaming as part of the trauma, and that seems to be a self-evident connection, and certainly easily inferred in the way Mariah had been mistreated.
