Shameful Encounters, Alienation, and Healing Restitution in the Group

Lear, Terence

doi:10.1177/0533316490232007

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…The actual treatment of shame is relatively straightforward. It involves the creation and maintenance of a safe environment wherein the disclosure of shamefulness is accepted by others and oneself (Alonso & Rutan, 1988; Basch, 1985; Lear, 1990; Morrison, 1990; Tantam, 1990; Zaslav, 1998). This is accomplished by providing a supportive and emotionally attentive relationship.…”

Section: Treatment Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shame: Countertransference identifications in individual psychotherapy.

Hahn¹

2000

Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training

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Shame is a universal experience felt by patients and therapists alike. Yet, the experience of shame, with its profound sense of inadequacy and worthlessness, is anathema to the competent and compassionate self-image of most therapists. In order to help therapists understand their own shame and their countertransference identifications to patient shame, this article first describes the nature of shame, its developmental progression within interpersonal relationships, and the defenses commonly employed to cope with shame. Because the experience of shame involves the activation of devalued and devaluing internal representations, therapists may develop concordant or complementary countertransference identifications. These countertransference identifications are influenced further by the patient's primary reaction to shame, which includes withdrawal, attacks on self, avoidance, and attacks on others. Each of these reflects a habitual reaction to shame that is displayed in the patienttherapist relationship. The author gratefully acknowledges his colleague, Peter Kahn, M.S., for his helpful comments and suggestions.

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Section: Treatment Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shame: Countertransference identifications in individual psychotherapy.

Hahn¹

2000

Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training

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“…So how the people in a group engage in such interactions, how the therapist works with them, and how he or she deals with personal attacks or time "hogging" can be important for creating a safe environment. A few writers have focused on clients' experiences of shame within therapy groups (Alonso & Rutan, 1988;Gans & Weber, 2000;Lear, 1990;Wyse, 1987; see also Chapter 5, this volume), and MacNab (1995) and Livingston (2006) provided experience-near personal accounts of their own shame experiences as group therapists. DESHAMING There are many ways in which therapists can engage in a process of deshaming.…”

Section: The Role Of Compassion Focused Therapymentioning

confidence: 99%

Shame in psychotherapy and the role of compassion focused therapy.

Gilbert

Shame in the Therapy Hour.

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This chapter explores the nature of shame experiences and how they can interfere with the seeking of psychotherapy and the process of therapy. The latter half of the chapter outlines aspects of compassion focused therapy (CFT), which was specially developed for high shame problems. THE NATURE OF SHAMEShame is typically regarded as multifaceted, with feelings of anxiety, anger, disgust, and/or sadness and at times a "heart sink" feeling; a sense of self as inadequate, bad, or defective in some way; beliefs that other people look down on the self and hold us in a negative frame of mind; behavioral dispositions and urges to run away, freeze, hide, and avoid; and unpleasant physiological arousal. Shame differs from humiliation, which has its focus on the other as bad or harmful and feelings of anger and desire for revenge. It also differs from guilt, which is linked into caring-giving and harm avoidance mechanisms and is focused on sadness, sorrow, and remorse with a desire to repair any harm done (for reviews, see Gilbert, 1998Gilbert, , 2002.

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“…The group therapy experience offers several potential advantages for the treatment of shame (Alonso & Rutan, 1988;Hahn, 1994;Lear, 1990;Tantam, 1990). Several of the curative factors presented by Yalom (1985) and others address the resolution of shame provided by the group experience.…”

Section: Letting the Air Get At It: Resolving Shame In Group Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It wasn't until even later on in his work in the group that he revealed he had secretly hoped that by being such a "good" group member and then by coming late to group, he could finally garner the attention he had so craved all his life and yet was also afraid of receiving for fear of what he would reveal about himself. Hahn (1994), citing Tantam (1990) and Lear (1990), emphasized the importance of disclosing one's shame to an accepting audience and the need to create a safe therapeutic environment in which that is possible. Lear suggested that group preparation and the exploration of fantasies about group therapy along with the establishment of ground rules (the group contract) help to build that safe environment.…”

Section: Letting the Air Get At It: Resolving Shame In Group Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shame and the paradox of group therapy.

Shapiro¹,

Powers²

Shame in the Therapy Hour.

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Most of us have had the experience, so well captured by the Southwest Airlines "Want to Get Away?" television commercials (featuring painfully uncomfortable social situations), of wishing that we could escape the horrible, raw sting of the shameful moment. Yet despite the ubiquity of the experience, shame remains a hidden reality of much of psychotherapy, in particular group therapy. Gans and Weber (2000) pointed out the dearth of consideration of shame in the group therapy literature. Perhaps this paucity reflects the avoidance of shame found in the therapy process itself. As Lewis (1987) pointed out, shame is often a hidden emotion. Both patients and therapists have a tendency to look away in response to shame, either consciously or, more likely, unconsciously. Alonso and Rutan (1988) alluded to the fundamental paradox of shame in group therapy when they considered that being in a group acutely arouses the experience of shame while simultaneously providing particular advantages for the resolution of that shame.In this chapter, we review shame as seen through the lens of the group therapy literature, and we elucidate the particular ways that group therapy provides the ideal opportunity to resolve the experience of shame. We use clinical examples to highlight the specific ways that shame is evidenced in the group therapy setting and that therapists might recognize and help resolve

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Shameful Encounters, Alienation, and Healing Restitution in the Group

Cited by 6 publications

References 6 publications

Shame: Countertransference identifications in individual psychotherapy.

Shame: Countertransference identifications in individual psychotherapy.

Shame in psychotherapy and the role of compassion focused therapy.

Shame and the paradox of group therapy.

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