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Substance Abuse and Rehabilitation 2024Addictive behavior and suicidal behavior are serious individual- and public-level health concerns. For those struggling with either or both, self-condemnation is a... (Review)
Review
Addictive behavior and suicidal behavior are serious individual- and public-level health concerns. For those struggling with either or both, self-condemnation is a common experience, especially with respect to shame, guilt, and self-stigma. Self-forgiveness, a construct common to both religiousness/spirituality and positive psychology, may be an effective tool in addressing the self-condemnation inherent to those struggling with addictive behavior and suicidal behavior. In this review paper, we discuss (1) the nature and definition of forgiveness, (2) theoretical modeling developed regarding the general association of forgiveness with health, (3) theoretical modeling developed regarding the specific association of forgiveness with better outcomes related to addictive and/or suicidal behavior, (4) the relevance of shame, guilt, and self-stigma to the development and maintenance of addictive and suicidal behavior, and (5) the role of self-forgiveness in addressing self-condemnation, especially shame, guilt, and self-stigma. Little work explicitly focused on the association of self-forgiveness with shame, guilt, and/or self-stigma has been done. However, empirical evidence is accumulating in support of other associations proposed in the Forgiveness-Addiction-Recovery Association (FARA) Model described herein. As such, it is likely that similar support will be found when the focus is deliberately turned to shame, guilt, and self-stigma.
PubMed: 38524663
DOI: 10.2147/SAR.S396964 -
BMC Psychiatry Apr 2022Despite Auditory Verbal Hallucinations (AVHs) having been long associated with mental illness, they represent a common experience also in the non-clinical population,...
BACKGROUND
Despite Auditory Verbal Hallucinations (AVHs) having been long associated with mental illness, they represent a common experience also in the non-clinical population, yet do not exhibit distress or need for care. Shame and guilt are emotions related to one's perception of oneself and one's responsibility. As such, they direct our attention to aspects of AVHs that are under-researched and elusive, particularly about the status of voices as others, their social implications and the constitution and conceptualisation of the self.
OBJECTIVES
This paper aims to provide a systematic review of studies that investigated the relationship between auditory hallucinations, shame, and guilt in people without relevant signs of psychiatric issues.
METHODS
We searched studies reporting information about voices characteristics, the relationship between voices and hearers, hearer's reactions, and beliefs, paying peculiar attention to shame and guilt issues. Included papers were evaluated for risk of bias.
RESULTS
Eleven studies that explored the relationship between AVHs, shame and guilt, were extracted. Phenomenological, pragmatic, as well as neuropsychological features of hearing voices in non-clinical populations, allowed us to note a dynamic relationship and the constellation of subjective experiences that can occur. The role of guilt was characterized by few studies and mixed results, while shame was mainly common.
CONCLUSIONS
Due to the high heterogeneity detected and the scarce sources available, further studies should focus on both the aetiology and the bidirectional relationship between hearing voices, shame, and guilt in non-clinical people. This can be helpful in therapies for non-clinical populations who are distressed by their voices (e.g., psychotherapy), and for whom shame, and guilt may contribute to negative consequences such as isolation, anxiety or future depression. Moreover, it might favour the development and implication of different treatments considering emotion regulation, distress tolerance and interpersonal sensitivity on the clinical populations.
Topics: Emotions; Hallucinations; Hearing; Humans; Shame; Voice
PubMed: 35443637
DOI: 10.1186/s12888-022-03902-6 -
Frontiers in Psychology 2021Habitual offender drivers are required to recover points lost on their driving license by attending reeducation courses, an experience that may, upon reflection of the...
Habitual offender drivers are required to recover points lost on their driving license by attending reeducation courses, an experience that may, upon reflection of the incident in question, induce feelings of guilt or shame for the infractions they committed. A simulated driving task studied optimistic offender drivers to analyze the extent to which the controllability of the situational context influenced their use of internal and external factors in counterfactual thoughts and emotions such as guilt and shame. The study involved 160 drivers, of whom 54 were categorized as repeat offender drivers while 106 drivers attended courses for advanced professional driving licenses. The participants drove along a route in a driving simulator, which had been previously adjusted for the difficulty to generate a perception of high or low control. Based on the outcome obtained by the participants in this stage, each driver had to report which resources they required to improve their outcomes. Different factor ANOVAs were used to analyze our findings. The results indicated that optimistic offenders, unlike other groups (i.e., optimistic non-offender and pessimistic non-offender), thought that their results could have been better if external factors had been present (i.e., upward counterfactuals), both under conditions of high and low control. They believed their results would have been worse had it not been for their internal resources (i.e., downward counterfactuals), especially under conditions of low control. Concerning emotions of guilt and shame, offender optimists had the lowest values in both conditions compared with the other groups. We may contend that optimistic offender drivers thought they could have obtained better outcomes if external factors had been involved. In the low control condition, they justified that if it were not for such internal skills, their results could have been worse. When they generated such thoughts, the emotions of guilt and shame were minimal.
PubMed: 34690856
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.668138 -
Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) Oct 2020Psychopathology in bariatric surgery patients may contribute to adverse postoperative sequelae, including weight regain, substance use, and self-harm. This...
OBJECTIVE
Psychopathology in bariatric surgery patients may contribute to adverse postoperative sequelae, including weight regain, substance use, and self-harm. This cross-sectional study aimed to advance the understanding of the risk and protective paths through which weight bias associates with depressive and anxiety symptoms in bariatric surgery candidates (BSC).
METHODS
BSC recruited from a surgical clinic (N = 213, 82.2% women, 43 [SD 12] years, mean BMI: 49 [SD 9] kg/m ) completed measures of experienced weight bias (EWB), internalized weight bias (IWB), body and internalized shame, and self-compassion; anxiety and depression screeners were accessed from medical charts. Multiple regression and PROCESS bootstrapping estimates tested our hypothesized mediation model as follows: EWB→IWB→body shame→shame→self-compassion→symptoms.
RESULTS
After accounting for EWB and IWB, internalized shame accounted for greater variance in both end points than body shame. EWB was associated with greater anxiety through risk paths implicating IWB, body shame, and/or internalized shame. Protective paths associated EWB with fewer depressive and anxiety symptoms among those with higher self-compassion.
CONCLUSIONS
The findings suggest a potentially important role for weight bias and shame in psychological health among BSC and implicate self-compassion, a trainable affect-regulation strategy, as a protective factor that may confer some resiliency. Future research using longitudinal and causal designs is warranted.
Topics: Adult; Anxiety; Bariatric Surgery; Bias; Body Weight; Cross-Sectional Studies; Depression; Empathy; Female; Humans; Male; Psychopathology; Risk Factors; Shame
PubMed: 32808737
DOI: 10.1002/oby.22920 -
Body Image Jun 2023This meta-analysis synthesized longitudinal data on mean-level change in body image, focusing on the constructs of body satisfaction and dissatisfaction, body esteem,... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
This meta-analysis synthesized longitudinal data on mean-level change in body image, focusing on the constructs of body satisfaction and dissatisfaction, body esteem, perceived attractiveness, valuation, self-objectification, and body shame. We searched five databases and accessed unpublished data to identify studies that assessed body image at two or more time points over six months or longer. Analyses were based on data from 142 samples representing a total of 128,254 participants. The age associated with the midpoint of measurement intervals ranged from 6 to 54 years. Multilevel metaregression models examined standardized yearly mean change, and the potential moderators of body image construct, gender, birth cohort, attrition rate, age, and time lag. Boys and men showed fluctuations in overall body image with net-improvements between ages 10 and 24. Girls and women showed worsening body image between ages 10 and 16, but improvements between ages 16 and 24. Change was greatest between ages 10 and 14, and stabilized around age 24. We found no effect of construct, birth cohort, or attrition rate. Results suggest a need to revise understandings of normative body image development: sensitive periods may occur somewhat earlier than previously believed, and body image may show mean-level improvements during certain age ranges.
Topics: Male; Humans; Female; Child; Adolescent; Young Adult; Adult; Middle Aged; Body Image; Self Concept; Emotions; Shame; Personal Satisfaction
PubMed: 36965235
DOI: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2023.03.003 -
Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences Jan 2023In this paper, we analyse the particular phenomena of COVID-19 pandemic shaming. We examine Sartre's account of the undifferentiated other in the experience of 'the...
In this paper, we analyse the particular phenomena of COVID-19 pandemic shaming. We examine Sartre's account of the undifferentiated other in the experience of 'the look', and his insistence on shame as a foundational relational affect, in order to give a robust theoretical frame to understand how pandemic shaming circulated both online and offline, in targeted and diffuse manners. We focus on two features of pandemic shaming. First, we draw attention to the structural necessity of an audience in acts of pandemic shaming, where the shamer acts on behalf of a community of others, the audience, to perform and enforce a set of standards, values or norms. We turn to the we-experience and collective emotions literature and discuss how the shamer believes themselves to be 'speaking' on behalf of a community who share their outrage along with their values. Second, we discuss how the presumption of a collective emotion was frequently mistaken in acts of pandemic shaming, where shaming frequently led to shame backlashes, where the audience revealed themselves not to share the emotion and values of the shamer, consequently shaming the shamer. We argue that Jean-Paul Sartre's voyeur example is usefully illustrative of the tripartite structure of (1) shamed, (2) shamer and (3) shamer of the shamer that occurs in iterative processes of pandemic shaming, which are accompanied by shaming backlashes. We conclude by reflecting on the socio-historical context for Sartre's accounts of shame and 'the look', namely the German occupation of Paris and Sartre's experience of the French Resistance movement, and how these yield a particular socio-historical framing that makes evident how the extraordinary pseudo-wartime conditions of COVID-19 rendered atmospheres of distrust and suspicion prevalent.
PubMed: 36713813
DOI: 10.1007/s11097-023-09890-6 -
Motivation and Emotion Dec 2021Shame aversion has been theorized to motivate aggression against the self or others as means of down-regulating shame. Additionally, the direction of aggression may...
Shame aversion has been theorized to motivate aggression against the self or others as means of down-regulating shame. Additionally, the direction of aggression may depend on tendencies to attribute blame or causes internally or externally. Data from two separate samples were used to examine shame aversion and its interaction with causal or blame attributions in relation to aggression, controlling for shame-proneness, which is more commonly studied. Results indicated that shame aversion was positively associated with verbal, relational, and passive-rational aggression, as well as with ruminative retribution and non-suicidal self-injury, after accounting for shame-proneness. Most noteworthy, a significant two-way interaction indicated that the association between shame aversion and ruminative retribution (fantasizing about people getting their comeuppance) was particularly strong at high levels of externalization of blame. Findings therefore suggest that although shame-proneness may create situations in which shame regulation strategies are necessary, aggressive fantasies may be used as a regulation strategy when individuals have difficulty tolerating shame and blame others for their circumstances.
PubMed: 35221396
DOI: 10.1007/s11031-021-09901-6 -
PloS One 2022Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people worldwide and remains a major public health concern. Research indicates that negative social contexts...
BACKGROUND
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people worldwide and remains a major public health concern. Research indicates that negative social contexts involving familial and peer relationships, have far-reaching influences on levels of suicidal behaviours in later life. Previous systematic reviews have focused on evaluating associations between negative life events such as abuse and bullying in childhood and subsequent self-harm or suicidality. However, the association between adolescent experiences of humiliation and shame, and subsequent self-harm or suicidal behaviour among children and young adults has not been well examined. As such, this systematic review is conducted to examine the prevalence and association between humiliation and shame and self-harm, suicidal ideation, and death by suicide among adolescents and young adults.
METHODS
A systematic literature search in extant electronic databases including; MEDLINE, Web of Science Core Collection, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Embase will be conducted to identify potential studies. Google Scholar, and the reference list of the retrieved articles and/or previous systematic reviews in this area, will also be scanned to identify further potential studies. ProQuest will be searched to identify relevant studies available within grey literature. There are no restrictions on the date of publications. Based on our initial review, the following terms were identified: Population: Adolescent (MESH), young adult (MESH), teen, teenage. Exposure: Humiliation, degradation, shame (MESH) or embarrassment (MESH), harassment victimisation, abasement. Outcome: Self-injurious behaviour (MESH), suicide (MESH), suicide attempted (MESH), suicide completed (MESH), self-harm, intentional self-injury, deliberate self-harm, overdose, deliberate self-poisoning, non-suicidal self-injury, self-mutilation, suicidal thought, suicidal ideation, suicidal intent, suicide. At least one term from each category will be used for conducting the literature search. All original quantitative studies published in the English language which examined the prevalence or association between humiliation or shame and self-harm and/or suicidal ideation and/or completed suicide will be included. The studies will be assessed for methodological quality using the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal tools. Narrative synthesis will be performed for all of the studies. If the studies are sufficiently homogenous, the results will be pooled for a meta-analysis. This systematic review protocol followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis Protocol (PRISMA-P) guidelines. The protocol has been registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) [CRD42022289843].
DISCUSSION
This is the first review to synthesise evidence on the prevalence of, and associations between the experiences of humiliation and shame and subsequent self-harm and/or suicidal behaviours among adolescents and young adults. As there is growing evidence on increased self-harm among this age group, it is important to identify population-specific risk factors for self-harm and suicidality which will have significance in formulating tailored and effective treatment and therapeutic services for adolescents and young adults.
Topics: Adolescent; Young Adult; Humans; Child; Suicidal Ideation; Self-Injurious Behavior; Embarrassment; Systematic Reviews as Topic; Meta-Analysis as Topic; Shame
PubMed: 36417449
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0278122 -
Brain Sciences May 2024Patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) report to be especially prone to social emotions like shame and guilt. At the same time, these emotions seem to play...
OBJECTIVE
Patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) report to be especially prone to social emotions like shame and guilt. At the same time, these emotions seem to play an important role in BPD pathology. The present study aimed to deepen the knowledge about the processes behind shame and guilt in patients with BPD.
METHODS
Twenty patients with BPD and twenty healthy controls (HCs) took part in an experiment that induced shame and guilt by imagining scenarios during scanning using functional brain imaging. Participants also filled out self-report questionnaires and took part in diagnostic interviews.
RESULTS
BPD patients reported more proneness to guilt but not to shame than the HCs. There was no difference in the self-reported intensity rating of experimentally induced emotions between the groups. Between-group contrast of neural signals in the shame condition revealed a stronger activation of cingulate and fusiform gyrus for the BPD patients compared to the controls, and a more pronounced activation in the lingual gyrus and cuneus for the HCs. In the guilt condition, activation in the caudate nucleus, the fusiform gyrus, and the posterior cingulate cortex was stronger in BPD patients, while HC showed stronger activations in cuneus, lingual gyrus, and fronto-temporal regions.
CONCLUSIONS
Differences in the neuro-functional processes between BPD patients and HC were found, even though the two groups did not differ in their self-report of subjective proneness to guilt and emotional intensity of shame and guilt during the experiment. While the HCs may be engaged more by the emotional scenarios themselves, the BPD patients may be more occupied with cognitive regulatory and self-referential processing.
PubMed: 38928549
DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14060549 -
Journal of Rational-emotive and... 2023Procrastination is common among college students, involving irrational delay of task completion. Theorists understand procrastination to be an avoidance response to...
Procrastination is common among college students, involving irrational delay of task completion. Theorists understand procrastination to be an avoidance response to negative emotions. Past research suggests that depression and anxiety predict procrastination. However, only limited research has examined the unique effects of shame and guilt-self-conscious emotions-on procrastination, and no studies have examined potential mechanisms. Depressive rumination, the repetitive and maladaptive thinking about a negative event composed of brooding and reflective pondering, is uniquely predicted by shame-but not guilt-and also predicts greater procrastination. Thus, the current cross-sectional survey study examined (1) whether shame and guilt uniquely predict procrastination and (2) whether depressive rumination mediates those effects in a collegiate sample. Results supported a model wherein brooding and reflective pondering mediate the unique relationship between shame and procrastination. A second model suggested that guilt leads to less procrastination directly but greater procrastination indirectly via increased reflective pondering. Theoretical and clinical implications of the current findings are discussed.
PubMed: 35847054
DOI: 10.1007/s10942-022-00466-y