Shame

The archetypal Death Mother symbolizes women whose behaviour or feelings threaten the lives of their children. Western culture, however, believes that women evolved to love their children instinctively and selflessly, and that women who abandon, neglect, harm or kill their children are unnatural. Thus the Death Mother has no place in our cultural consciousness. This can be problematic, because it means that the Death Mother is buried deep in the shadow and surrounded with shame. 

In this article, I introduce Jungian and psychodynamic perspectives on the Death Mother, archetype and then focus on evolutionary and anthropological perspectives. My aim is to show that when the Death Mother is approached with compassionate curiosity, we can better help the mothers who are living this frightening energy, as well as those who grow up traumatized by her impact. In particular, I propose that that when we bring the Death Mother into consciousness, learn about her evolutionary roots, and humanize her, we start to dismantle the self-perpetuating cycles of shame that constellate around her archetypal energy, thereby opening the doors to meaningful change.

Introduction In recent years, looking for an answer to the question what is behind the rise of political Islam and the terrorist attacks by the hand of a few of its advocates, a number of authors have put forward the view that some Muslims feel that their culture is superior, but at the same time fear that in today's world their way of life is threatened and that their honor is at stake. Presumably, the resulting feelings of humiliation are among the causes of the terrorist attacks we have witnessed in recent years.

This article has been mainly inspired by Tamara Shefer; Sally, R. Munt (2019) A feminist politics of shame: Shame and its contested possibilities
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0959353519839755

Questo articolo è stato fortemente inspirato da: Tamara Shefer; Sally, R. Munt (2019) A feminist politics of shame: Shame and its contested possibilities
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0959353519839755

Intervention présentée lors de la journée d'étude "Mémoires honteuses. Les chrétiens européens face à leurs passés embarrassants", organisée par Laurent Ropp à l'Université du Mans, laboratoire TEMOS, le 9 novembre 2021.

En 1623, les réformés de la ville de Sommières profitent du départ de la garnison de la ville à la demande du connétable pour y inviter le duc de Rohan et réclamer aux catholiques la restitution du temple perdu lors de la reddition de la place. Un auteur pro-catholique, qui fait le récit de cet événement, met particulièrement en avant une altercation survenue entre les réformés, menés par leur ministre Chauve, et le jésuite Cavaignac. Présentant les protestants comme des fauteurs de trouble, il les dépeint comme incapable de discuter, et attachés à déformer de façon scandaleuse les arguments pourtant légitimes du père jésuite. Mais pour appuyer son propos, l’auteur affirme que leurs erreurs d’interprétation s’expliquent par le fait qu’ils se trouvent « cours de memoire à retenir ce que le pere avoit dit bien bellement ».
Une telle expression est significative : elle relève d’une conception de l’entendement héritée de la fin du Moyen Âge selon laquelle la faculté mémorielle, parce qu’elle est en mesure de regrouper et d’ordonner les informations, est la première des facultés intellectuelles, et son principal moyen de médiation avec le monde extérieur. C’est parce que les réformés ont une mémoire défectueuse, y compris pour les événements immédiats, qu’ils sont ici incapables de mener une action politique juste. Cette intervention, en se penchant non sur l’élaboration d’une mémoire du passé des guerres de religion dans la période de l’après-édit de Nantes, mais sur les mécanismes de qualification du rapport à ce passé et à la faculté mémorielle elle-même par le pouvoir royal, voudrait donc explorer une hypothèse : l’un des moyens de l’expression par le pouvoir royal d’une domination sur les réformés français, et dès lors l’un des outils de l’anéantissement largement documenté de leur faculté d’action politique partisane, résiderait dans la qualification honteuse de l’entendement des réformés, et, en particulier, par une attaque portée sur leur recours politique à la faculté mémorielle.
Pour tester cette hypothèse, nous voudrions dans un premier temps revenir sur l’expression, dans les sources, de ces défauts d’entendement et de mémoire chez les huguenots. Présente dès le début du règne de Louis XIII, l’accusation d’une mémoire défectueuse est utilisée par les agents du pouvoir royal pour critiquer la réception par les huguenots des mesures prises sur les questions de religion. Avec la hausse des tensions, et en particulier les guerres de Rohan, la question de la mémoire sélective, puis défectueuse –volontairement ou pas– des huguenots devient un ressort polémique courant, consistant à mettre en avant les moyens réformés de dire le passé, les événements choisis et la façon de les mettre en relation avec le présent, puis à les contester en affichant leurs prétendues incohérences. On montrera toutefois que cette question du rapport au passé des huguenots, en particulier en tant qu’il conduit à choisir, et surtout, à omettre certains événements est avant tout pensé comme un motif politique, que l’on retrouve du reste tant chez les royalistes que chez certains réformés eux-mêmes. Mettant en évidence qu’on se place, pour reprendre l’expression de Duplessis-Mornay « depuis une eschauguette », il permet à ceux qui le mobilisent de mettre par comparaison en avant la supériorité de leur propre construction mémorielle, permettant alors, dans le contexte de la monarchie de raison, de prétendre orienter les décisions des acteurs.
Mais le motif de la mémoire réformée défaillante devient progressivement un moyen de requalifier la place des réformés au sein du royaume, à une époque de recomposition profonde des relations politiques entre le souverain et ses sujets. En effet, on observe dans les sources huguenotes une adoption de plus en plus systématique du motif royal de la mémoire réformée défectueuse, souvent sollicitée, explicitement ou pas, par le pouvoir monarchique lui-même. Cette incapacité à comprendre les événements devient de plus en plus spontanément accolée aux réformés, et la nécessité de reconnaître publiquement cette incapacité figure de plus en plus systématiquement dans la rhétorique des sources protestantes. C’est alors que l’idée de « mémoire honteuse » prend tout son sens : en faisant de cette honte face à la défaillance réformée de la mémoire un lieu commun politique, le pouvoir royal inscrit les protestants dans une démarche perpétuelle de pénitence publique. Faisant se répéter inlassablement, et inscrivant par là-même dans la mémoire collective l’idée que les réformés, par ignorance et défaillance mémorielle, s’étaient rebellés contre leur roi, le souverain leur impose une contrition perpétuelle qui lui permet de se poser véritablement comme Louis le Juste, opérateur d’une miséricorde royale de plus en plus sacralisée. La mémoire défaillante, parce qu’elle a été objet politique, devient objet de honte ; la culpabilisation publique à laquelle elle donne lieu se substitue désormais, pour les réformés, à l’action politique.

This research examines the impact of attending a Well Now course on participants' wellbeing and contrasts this with their reports of previous experiences of seeking support with weight concerns. The Well Now course teaches health-gain and body respect. As such, it offers people a way of making sense of their experiences around food and eating that is premised on criticality, compassion and respect. This is the first of two articles discussing research findings. This was a qualitative, community-based study using semi-structured interviews and focus groups. The participants were women and men who had completed a 6 session Well Now course. Interviews and focus groups were recorded and transcribed verbatim and data were manually sorted. Coding categories were developed and participants' quotes were assigned to these using thematic analysis. The study had ethics approval*. Participants described how engaging with the Well Now philosophy in a supportive group had beneficially impacted their health and sense of self-worth. The reorientation made available through Well Now enhanced psychosocial variables and behaviours known to impact on health, such as mood, self-esteem, eating/exercise habits and interpersonal relationships. They recounted instances where recommendations to follow a weight-corrective approach, and attendant size bias seen in health practitioner's attitudes, had had a detrimental impact on their wellbeing and sense of self-worth. A professional commitment to socio-politically aware practice is recommended as a means of advancing equity, helping people heal from body shame and meeting our ethical responsibilities as health practitioners. * Equivalent to Institutional Board Review.

The psychoanalytic literature on shame is critically reviewed. A vagueness and incompleteness in formulations is noted which appears to be related to an adherence to the structural and topographical models. Shame is shown to have a clearly defined place in object-relations theory, in particular within the theory of narcissism as developed elsewhere by the author. It is the signal, affective and cognitive, that a move from 'self-narcissism' to 'object-narcissism' is about to occur. The phenomenology of the shame experience as emphasized by other workers is collated and shown to be capable of coherent and consistent integration within this model. Aspects of shame which have been previously neglected are discussed including the unconscious sense of shame and specific mechanisms for dealing with shame.

"Naked" is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in shame and its role in morality. The book is particularly timely given how common public shaming has become in online settings. Krista K. Thomas argues that, even though shame is a negative emotion with potentially damaging consequences, its dark side is outweighed by its moral benefits insofar as shame is constitutive of desirable moral commitments. According to the author, being liable to shame is constitutive of respecting other people's points of view, acknowledging others' moral standing, and accepting that our identities are not only set by what we think of ourselves, but also by factors outside of our control that include our personal histories and other people's opinions of us.

There are two radically different ways of conceptualising ‘moral injury’. On one understanding, moral injury involves an arousal of the moral emotions, such as guilt and shame, to such an extent that they become debilitating. The soldier feels so guilty about what they have done or failed to do, or so ashamed of themselves, or so morally tainted that they struggle to function or to live a flourishing life upon their return from duty. The experience of war aggravates or inflames the moral emotions to pathological levels. On the alternative conception, moral injury involves a corruption or a corrosion of the moral emotions. The soldier does not feel morally troubled by what they have done or failed to do, but they should. The individual fails to manifest the moral emotions in an appropriate way. The literature tends to oscillate between these two conceptions of moral injury, but they are almost polar opposites. On the first conception the moral emotions are engaged and amplified, whil...

SynopsisWhakama is a psychosocial and behavioural construct in the New Zealand Maori which does not have any exact equivalent in Western societies although shame, self-abasement, feeling inferior, inadequate and with self-doubt, shyness, excessive modesty and withdrawal describe some aspects of the concept. It is an important construct in order to understand the interaction of the Maori with each other and with the Caucasian New Zealander, the behaviour of the Maori in cross-cultural settings, and the clinical presentations of some Maori patients. This paper examines some of the meanings of Whakama, its various behavioural manifestations and its possible causes. The clinical relevance to psychiatry is emphasized.Waiho ma te whakama e patu!‘ Leave him alone he is punished by whakama ’ (Maori saying)

Background: Shame is one of the emotions that a person experiences in a variety of everyday situations and many cases it is annoying. Shame is known as a moral emotion, yet its role in psychopathology has been emphasized. This study aimed to examine the lived experience of shame in individuals.
Methods: This research is a qualitative study with a phenomenological approach. This research describes in-depth what shame is and how it is experienced from the perspective of individuals. The participants included eight men and seven women who contributed to an in-depth unstructured interview. A seven-step Colaizzi method was used to analyze the data. Data were analyzed using MAXQDA software (2018).
Results: Based on our findings, the eight themes of "physical reactions", "accompanying emotions", "making mistakes", "vicarious shame", "gaze of others", "being subject to judgment", " preoccupation" and three sub-themes of "worry", "rumination" and "blame", "existential shame" with the sub-themes of "inadequacy" and "feeling different" are the most common ones in people's experience of shame.
Conclusion: Results are discussed regarding the existing literature. In general, the study of people's experience of shame shows that there are common themes in the description of different people from what they have experienced. The use of shame as a concept in psychotherapy may improve our understanding of the nature of some psychological problems.

This paper examines the accounts of individuals who problematically pick their skin and explores their subjective experiences. One hundred problem disclosure statements were taken from posts made to a publicly accessible online skin picking support forum. These posts were systematically analysed using thematic analysis. Themes of disgust, shame and psychosocial avoidance dominated the analysis and appeared central to the experience of skin picking. Skin picking was shown to be a heterogeneous experience with a complex emotional profile. We argue that disgust, shame and related avoidance behaviour should be considered when conceptualising skin picking and considering treatment interventions.

There is a growing evidence that emotions shape people's reactions to the climate crisis in profound but complex ways. Climate emotions are related to resilience, climate action, and psychological well-being and health. However, there is currently a lack of research about the array of various climate emotions. There is also a need for more integration with general research about emotions. This article conducts a preliminary exploration of the taxonomy of climate emotions, based on literature reviews and philosophical discussion. The term emotion is used here in a broad sense, as is common in climate emotion research. Because of the urgency of the climate crisis and the lack of previous research, this kind of exploration is aimed to be helpful for both practical climate work and for future research which would include more systematic reviews of the topic. Research items which discuss at least five different climate emotions, based on empirical observations, are used as major sources and a table about them is provided. Climate emotions are discussed on the basis of interdisciplinary research. The article considers many aspects of the phenomena of climate anxiety and climate grief.

An investigation of Ælfric's shame-vocabulary allows us to divide his shame concept into three areas: being (a)shamed, active shaming, and the shameful. The prototypical scenario of shame is humiliation or exposure before others. However, Ælfric asks his audience to imagine this kind of public, worldly shame in relation to failures to live up to Christian ideals; he thus encourages the ethicization and psychologization of shame. In addition, readers are invited to read to find Christian moral symbolism in narratives of shaming, while the emotive label of ‘shameful’ cues rejection and disgust towards what is wrong and pagan. Ælfric's appeals to shame promote self-scrutiny and the performance of a Christian identity. With respect to Anglo-Saxon shame in general, Ælfric offers a case-study in the flexibility of shame and its importance as a mode of knowing and performing the self.

Mathematics anxiety, a state of tension or apprehension when interacting with numbers and math, is the most widely studied emotional response to mathematics, and numerous studies have shown that it is an impediment to success in mathematics. However, this frame of anxiety limits our understanding of and ability to respond to the intense and sometimes debilitating emotions that surround mathematics for many people. Anxiety is an individual pathology, but our problems with mathematics are widespread, permeate our entire culture, and go well beyond individual issues. In this paper, I argue that shame plays a key role in mathematical difficulties. Looking at shame allows me to put mathematical difficulty in a relational context, and that in turn can lead to methods for preventing and addressing difficulties.

For this, I use a grounded theory approach to code and iteratively theorize about the written memories of negative mathematical experiences of adults. Literature relating to both shame and mathematical difficulties were also coded and connected with the memories. After several rounds of coding, I was able to categorize the memories into different storylines and I was able to identify broad categories of emotions and collect additional evidence for shame and other emotions. Evidence of shame appeared in all but one of the twenty-two memories, but only eight of the memories showed evidence of anxiety. My analysis results in a theory of how shame operates in and is perpetuated by school-based mathematical experiences, as well as how people respond to shaming experiences. Looking at these stories together allows us to move past individual anxiety and to see the collective causes and consequences of mathematical shame. This theory of mathematical shame may provide a new way for educators to understand and connect with their students which can lead to preventing and overcoming mathematical problems.

Criminality in cyberspace has been the subject of much debate since the 1990s, yet comparatively little attention has been paid to technology-facilitated sexual violence and harassment (TFSV). The aim of this article is to explore the ways in which retraditionalized gender hierarchies and inequalities are manifested in online contexts, and to conceptualize the cause and effects of TFSV as "embodied harms." We argue that problematic mind/body and online/off-line dualisms result in a failure to grasp the unique nature of embodied harms, precluding an adequate understanding and theorization of TFSV.

This article draws together the work of novelist Salman Rushdie and playwright and screenwriter Martin McDonagh, who has embraced the epithet “The Irish Salman Rushdie”. When considered in tandem, both writers are revealed as irreverent postcolonial artists using absurd representations to mock the hypermasculine persona and reveal its dangerous ideology as a foundation of terrorist thinking. The article traces the trope of the “Pillowman” assassin, used by both writers to signify emasculated male characters who turn to violence out of shame. The inverted logic these characters espouse is examined and shown to signal the fallacy of accepting violence as an essential facet of masculinity. When viewed in this framework, the work of Rushdie and McDonagh suggests that the drive towards aggressive masculinity in postcolonial settings acts as a vestigial by-product of the colonial power structure.

The key concepts of the book are media, class, poverty and shaming. The contributors to this book examine how certain social relations and their cultural meanings in the media, namely class and poverty, are transformed into factual or moral attributes of people and situations. Class and poverty are not understood as certain things and actions, or concepts and numbers; both class and poverty are assumed to be, above all, particular social relationships or a set of relations between people, things and symbols.
Without denying that contempt for the destitute Other is an affect found throughout history and in various socioeconomic contexts, the chapters in this book—through their concern with the mediated gaze on class—narrate predominantly the challenges brought about by the media’s spectacular take on poverty and low status as they (at least) coincide with the neoliberal era.
This volume will be of essential reading for the scholars specialising in the study of media and social inequalities from the vantage points of Media Studies, Sociology, Anthropology or European Studies.

Objectives: Recent research has begun to pay attention to the experiences of guilt and shame in different realms of human life. However, there is an urgent need to develop valid instruments for measuring these emotional experiences. The main aims of this study are to introduce a newly developed tool, the Guilt and Shame Experience Scale (GSES), and to psychometrically evaluate its properties.

Sample and settings. An online sample of Czech respondents aged 15 and over (N=1101; 34.4 ± 13.0 years; 26.9% men) participated in the survey. Experiences of guilt and shame (GSES), together with basic socioeconomic information, were measured.

Results: The non-parametric comparison of different socio-demographic groups showed a higher disposition for experiencing guilt among women and religious respondents and a lower disposition for experiencing both vindication and shame among middle-aged respondents. For the purpose of factor analysis, the data set was divided into two groups. One group (N=551) was used for Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and the second (N=550) for Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). On the basis of the EFA performed on a matrix of polychoric correlations and the subsequent CFA, two items were excluded. The eight-item version of the scale has good internal consistency, with Cronbach's alpha 0.86 and McDonald's ω t 0.88. At the same time, the polychoric correlations between the items of the scale showed a low to moderate inter-item correlation, with values between 0.20 and 0.60. A two-factor model has the best fit with the data. The two-factor solution also corresponds to the theoretical assumptions and to the two expected subscales of the questionnaire: shame and guilt. Each subset contains four items.

Study limitations: The main limitation of this study is that it did not reach a representative sample, allowing a more detailed exploration among socio-demographic groups, and therefore, it was not possible to determine the norms for the population.

This paper makes an initial attempt to redescribe the failure of racial equality in America by making use of the idea of tragedy. I offer a reading of Antigone to stabilize the appropriateness of three ideas in support of reading the history of race in America as tragic: the problem of one thought too many, pollution, and the question, "was it worth it?" I argue, following James Baldwin, that the tragedy of race in America is initiated by the idea of white people who think they are white and that this conviction, initializes the impact of the above three ideas resulting in a society of people lacking in, as defined by Bernard Williams, agent-regret, and, thus, lacking shame.

Shame is one of the most stigmatized and stigmatizing of emotions. Often characterized as an emotion in which the subject holds a global, negative self-assessment, shame is typically understood to mark the subject as being inadequate in some way, and a sizable amount of work on shame focuses on its problematic or unhealthy aspects, effects, or consequences. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Shame reorients readers to a more balanced understanding of what shame is, as well as its value and social function. The contributors recognize shame as a complex, richly layered, conscious or unconscious phenomenon, and the collection offers an understanding of how theories of shame can help or hinder us in understanding ourselves, others, and the world around us. It also highlights how a diverse range of perspectives on shame can enlighten our understanding of both the positive and negative aspects of this powerful emotion. Edited by Cecilea Mun, these chapters by an international group of scholars reflect a broad range of methods, disciplinary perspectives, and both theoretical and practical concerns regarding shame. 
 
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498561372/Interdisciplinary-Perspectives-on-Shame-Methods-Theories-Norms-Cultures-and-Politics#

30% Discount Code: LEX30AUTH1

This study investigates embarrassment related to condom purchase, carrying, storage, use, and disposal in three countries. We identify the consequences of purchase embarrassment for condom use and explore strategies that individuals use to cope with purchase-related embarrassment. Surveys were distributed in Shanghai, China and Seoul, Republic of Korea based on a survey developed and previously distributed in Vancouver, Canada. Despite different levels of development and differences in attitudes and policies toward sexuality in these countries, we find remarkably similar results. In all three countries, condom-related embarrassment extends beyond condom use to pre- and post-use situations. The embarrassment associated with purchasing condoms exceeds that of using condoms, and purchase-related condom embarrassment significantly and negatively impacts the frequency of condom use. Individuals use multiple coping strategies to combat purchase-related embarrassment until this embarrassme...

Aim:  This study of verbal and physical abuse against nurses in Turkey aimed to describe prevalence, sources, important effects on work, family and social life of the nurses, coping methods and factors.Methods:  A sample of 622 nurses working in eight hospitals located in the capital city of Turkey was surveyed using verbal and physical abuse questionnaires.Results:  The prevalence of verbal and physical abuse against nurses in the sample of this study were found to be as 91.1% and 33.0% respectively. Colleagues were found to be the most important source of verbally abusive behaviours while patients and patients’ relatives were the important sources of physically abusive behaviours. Disturbed mental health, decreased job performance and headache were the more frequently reported negative effects of verbal and physical abuses on nurses. The most common reactions against abusive behaviours were anger, helplessness, humiliation and depression. It is interesting to find that ‘did nothing’ was the most reported coping method with verbal abuse. The findings also suggested that working in inpatient units and increasing work experience in the nursing profession were statistically significant variables increasing the likelihood of being abused physically.Discussion:  All the results on sources, negative effects, feelings and coping methods on verbally and physically abusive behaviours lead us to discuss that lower working status and power of the nurses at the work, poor working conditions in healthcare settings and insufficient administrative mechanisms as well as law and regulations against the abusers are the important factors forcing the nurses to work in an inappropriate work environment in Turkey.

The concepts of ‘honour and shame’ have emerged in contemporary missiological discourse as a key tool for ministry among ‘shame cultures’. While a recognition of different cultural values is an important step towards contextualization, the soteriological models presented in these discussions are primarily based on a number of hidden assumptions which require further investigation: that shame is overcome by an outpouring of honour; that shame is a problem between humanity and God; and that the ‘honour system’ of this world is a viable model in which to locate salvation. We review these assumptions and instead propose an understanding of salvation for shame based on the rejection of honour, the subversion of shame, the death of the shameful body, and rebirth in new community.

Schopnost zaujmout k sobě samému emočně pozitivní postoj ve chvílích, kdy zažíváme trápení, selhání nebo si uvědomujeme nějaký svůj nedostatek, je důležitým aspektem regulace emocí a zároveň i předpokladem duševního zdraví a duševní pohody. Takový postoj, označovaný jako soucit se sebou (angl. self-compassion), je zřejmě i významným elementem psychoterapeutické změny.
Příspěvek představí koncept soucitu se sebou, který se vedle všímavosti (angl. mindfulness) stal v posledních letech jedním z dalších elementů tradiční buddhistické psychologie, vzbuzujících zájem západních odborníků. Porovná tento u nás nový koncept s příbuznými psychologickými pojmy. Nastíní předpokládaný vliv nedostatku soucitu se sebou v etiopatogenezi některých psychických poruch a zmíní možnosti, jak tento postoj k sobě rozvíjet. Uvede i výzkumné aktivity týkající se soucitu se sebou, jež aktuálně probíhají v České republice.

According to the Perfectionism Social Disconnection Model, interpersonal components of perfectionism (i.e., socially prescribed perfectionism, perfectionistic self-presentation) develop when individuals exhibit an inordinate need for belongingness and shame as a result of early attachment insecurity and/or a lack of emotional attunement in the caregiver-child relationship. This study hence examined the mediating effects of the need to belong and shame on the relationships between insecure attachment and interpersonal perfectionism. A sample of 513 undergraduates completed self-report measures including trait perfectionism, perfectionistic self-presentation, shame, the need for belongingness, and attachment styles. As hypothesized, socially prescribed perfectionism and perfectionistic self-presentation were both positively associated with the need to belong, shame, and insecure attachment styles. Furthermore, results from multiple mediation analyses indicated that the associations between preoccupied attachment and interpersonal components of perfectionism were mediated by a strong need for belongingness and shame. The present study hence provides further empirical support for the Perfectionism Social Disconnection Model and highlights the importance of examining the quality of attachment relationships for individuals with elevated interpersonal perfectionism.