Shame and its Impact on Mental Health

                                                                            Photo by Photo by Renaud Confavreux

While all emotions are neutral and serve a purpose, some of them can feel very uncomfortable and even be viewed as negative. Welcome to the stage, shame.

Experiencing shame can bring up feelings of rejection, inadequacy, inferiority, disrespect, worthlessness, insignificance, failure and even disgrace (Gilligan, 2003, as cited in Dolezal & Gibson, 2022). It is no wonder then, that such a powerful emotion plays a major role and presence after trauma has occurred (Dolezal & Gibson, 2022).

Shame kills our capacity to experience positive emotions

-Ruth Lanius

Shame is an important topic related to mental health but it is not all doom and gloom. We must remember that all emotions, including shame are unavoidable in our lives (Dolezal & Gibson, 2022). Additionally, healthy shame does exist and can act as a very effective stimulus for change in one's life (Dolezal & Gibson, 2022).

Yours always in authenticity,

Jody

References

Dolezal, L., Gibson, M. Beyond a trauma-informed approach and towards shame-sensitive practice. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 9, 214 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01227-z