ABSTRACT
Assessing for chronic shame begins with the therapist’s right-brain grasp of clients’ body language and projections of self, including performances of appeasement, control, or perfection. Therapists notice clients’ patterns of shame in their relationships with themselves and with others. Dysfunctional family communication patterns often lead to chronic shame for the family members. Shame is firmly linked to trauma; as one way to escape the pain of shame, some clients will experience shame – along with other traumatic affect – only in dissociated states. Shame and addictions, including eating disorders, create a powerful negative spiral that amplifies shame. The roots of chronic shame are in societal relationships as well as in family relationships. Social relations of unequal power inflict shame on certain stigmatized groups, but not all stigma shame becomes chronic shame. The author provides four case examples where stigmatizing shame is both distinct from and related to chronic shame. Societal shame is often dissociated as well – both the shame of the oppressed and the shame of the oppressor.
