Shame-informed Counselling and Psychotherapy: Eastern and Western Perspectives

Description

Unhealthy or maladaptive shame is believed by many to be the root cause of a diverse range of mental health problems. If we want to offer a more reparative healing to people contending with these psychological issues, we must ultimately trace back and resolve their underlying shame. This book offers researchers practitioners and students a balance of theoretical and empirical evidence for a practical approach in shame-informed counselling and psychotherapy approach. Drawing on empirical field study evidence on shame, and making references to both Western and Eastern literature on the subject, Ng advocates that shame-informed interventions be applied following or alongside the contemporary counselling modalities and protocols. Using his 15 years' professional practice in the field, he offers a shame-informed counselling and psychotherapy approach which aims not merely to help the individual cope with or suppress the shame as commonly advocated in current literature, but also deals with its roots through the restructuring of core beliefs and early memories. Cover Endorsements Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Contents Figures Tables Foreword Acknowledgements Abbreviations Part I: Understanding shame 1. Introduction Why study of shame not emphasized Centrality of shame Overview of the book Shame as a natural, primary emotion Illustrations of shame-related cases Book structure Bibliography 2. Hiddenness of shame Two-year study Hidden behind secondary emotions Is there shame? Hiddenness as a notion of face Psychological reasons for hiding shame Uncovering hidden shame Bibliography 3. Shame's dualistic nature Two foci Two functions Two awareness Two sources Two indicators Two states Bibliography 4. Development stages of intensified shame Shame in early childhood Transgenerational shaming Other social settings of shaming Bibliography 5. My own struggles with shame Growing up Famous in school Shame in loss Graduate school Bibliography 6. Empirical findings of my study Past and present shame Shame as mediator Self-esteem vs shame Education and shame Bibliography 7. Qualitative findings of my study Participants of the qualitative study Data collection and transcription Process precepts of data analysis Phase 1: familiarizing with the data Phase 2: generating initial codes Phase 3: searching for themes Phase 4: reviewing the themes Phase 5: defining and naming themes Phase 6: producing the report Results of analysis Intrapsychic consequences Interpersonal consequences Interpersonal findings Bibliography 8. East-West distinctives Shame in Asia Illustration of Chinese cultural impact on shame Guilt vs shame Mundane with same dynamics at work Bibliography 9. Healthy shame Anticipatory shame Vicarious shame Clinical implications Bibliography 10. Unhealthy shame Acute shame Internalized shame Clinical implications Bibliography 11. Continuum of shame Prevalence of shamefulness Prevalence of shamelessness Continuum of shame Incorporating the setting Bibliography Part II: Addressing shame 12. Getting to the roots The typical approach to treat depression Physiological and psychological causes Why we develop the symptoms? What can we conclude from here? Bibliography 13. Connecting the symptoms to shame Initial awareness of the link Surfacing the shame Making the connection Bibliography 14. Preparing for shame-informed psychotherapy Can past shame memories be changed? Process of reframing through imagery Enhancing the outcome with experiencing Enhancing with symbolic acts Bibliography 15. Application of shame memory reframing Verbatim of Anne's case Counteracting the inner vow Recovering disowned parts of the self Bibliography 16. Other antidotes to unhealthy shame Self-affirming scripts Self-acceptance Judge not self Judge not others Bibliography 17. Therapist's skills Recognizing shame Handling client's resistance Some online therapy skills Termination of therapy Bibliography 18. Therapist's shame Self-awareness Shaming and re-shaming Setting too high expectations Bibliography 19. Countering shamelessness Social cohesion vs social unrests Concern for rising shamelessness Not socializing our children on shame Application in society Bibliography Appendix: Summary of 2018-2019 study and its quantitative results Participants Procedure Measures Results Calculation of statistical correlations Bibliography Index