ABSTRACT
This chapter moves from indirect to direct treatment of chronic shame, bringing it into the light. According to Richard Geist, the heart of every self psychological treatment is the client’s need for connectedness. Therapists need to enter into this connectedness fully and genuinely as persons. Interpreting by way of understanding this need for connectedness allows shame to come into the light without judgement. Connectedness requires that therapists make themselves available emotionally when the therapy relationship is stressed or damaged. Once shame is in the open, therapists can teach about it by eliciting narratives about conversations, needs, emotions, mistakes, differences, and achievements as they were experienced by clients in their families of origin. Working with clients’ parts of self – using Internal Family Systems theory, Janina Fisher’s system, or Bonnie Badenoch’s system – can be very effective to bring shame into light and air, where it can be accepted, understood, and integrated.
