ABSTRACT
Shame, and its counterpart pride, cannot be understood from the point of view of only one component of psychoanalytic theory. In this chapter I suggest that the conceptualization of shame in the clinical situation may gain clarity by linking the emergence of shame to unconscious fantasies. The concept of unconscious fantasy allows in its broad latitude for the understanding of experienced shame as the result of conflict affecting the sense of self and narcissistic self-evaluation in the presence of a significant object. It also permits the inclusion of drive and defence as component dynamic elements in the concrete experience of shame. Conflict between ego, ego-ideal and superego may appear either in the content of the fantasy or in its potential to elicit shame.
