Published 2022-02-04
Keywords
- shame shame-related states Guilt Psychopathology self-awareness
How to Cite
Abstract
Psychotherapy leads the patient on the path to self-awareness, based on self-acceptance and integration. Researchers have shown how some emotions activate deeper and more complicated processes in psychotherapy.
Shame, with the meaning of “self-awareness emotion”, has a key role in the onset and development of mental disease like Eating Disorders, Depression, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It strongly depends on self-consciousness process and it is a consequence of self-judgement, concerning to the introjected standards.
Shame also is related to a neurochemical factor and it can be a real dangerous mechanism for the Self, generating inhibition and increasing self-judgement for those parts that are believed unacceptable.
So, what is the Phenomenology of Shame? Based on scientific literature, this work explores the genesis and the development of shame, in order to identify the phenomenological elements to look for in the relation between the patient and the psychotherapist.