ABSTRACT
This chapter traces how adaptive shame gets intensified from early childhood to form maladaptive components over the years. According to Erikson, the outcome of the child’s second stage of psychosocial development is dependent on his experience with the primary caregiver, resulting in either goodwill and pride or a lasting sense of doubt and shame. As further shaming experiences take place, new verbal imprints and visual images of shame are added to what is already there in the unconscious to form collages of shame memories. As these collages of shame gets bigger and deeper, the shame gets internalized. Unhealthy shame is also passed down from one generation to the next. If the primary caregivers are shame-prone, they will model to the child their shame-based characteristics and pass down their unhealthy shame through their negative responses to the child’s needs. As the child grows, every social system will contribute to the shame that a person experiences. Unless these new shaming experiences are repaired and resolved, they will add to the collages of shame to further intensify and internalize the shame of the person.
