The Complex Emotion Of Shame And Its Impact

Shame is an emotion that involves negative self-evaluation and the belief that something is wrong with a person's character. It is a universal emotion, often associated with feelings of inadequacy, dishonour, and regret. While shame is a negative emotion, it has played a part in our survival as a species, encouraging us to adhere to cultural norms, follow laws, and behave in ways that allow us to coexist with others. However, when shame becomes internalised and results in overly harsh self-criticism, it can have harmful effects on a person's self-esteem, emotional well-being, relationships, and mental and physical health.

Shame is a discrete, basic emotion

Shame is often associated with feelings of humiliation, embarrassment, and guilt. However, it is distinct from these emotions in that it involves a negative evaluation of the self as a whole, rather than a specific action or behaviour. While guilt arises from a violation of one's internal values, shame arises from a violation of cultural or social norms and values.

Shame can be a powerful and painful emotion that can have a significant impact on a person's life. It can lead to social withdrawal, low self-esteem, and various mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and social anxiety disorder. It can also be a driving force for hiding or denying wrongdoings and can foster humility and teach people about boundaries.

Shame is often triggered by a sense of scrutiny or ridicule from more powerful individuals, such as parents withdrawing their love or expressing contempt towards a child. It can also be triggered by a failure to meet personal ideals or standards, such as weight gain or failure to achieve desired goals.

Shame is a universal emotion, and everyone experiences it occasionally. However, some people are more prone to shame than others, and it can have harmful effects on their lives if it becomes internalised and leads to an overly harsh self-evaluation.

Shame is a moral or social emotion

Shame is a discrete, basic emotion, described as a moral or social emotion that drives people to hide or deny their wrongdoings. Moral emotions are emotions that have an influence on a person's decision-making skills and monitor different social behaviours.

Shame is an unpleasant self-conscious emotion often associated with negative self-evaluation, feelings of pain, exposure, distrust, powerlessness, and worthlessness. It can bring about profound feelings of deficiency, defeat, inferiority, unworthiness, or self-loathing.

Shame is a self-punishing acknowledgment of something gone wrong. It is associated with "mental undoing". When people feel shame, the focus of their evaluation is on the self or identity.

Shame is a self-conscious emotion that involves negative evaluation of the self. It is a painful emotion that is seen as a comparison of the self's action with the self's standards.

Shame is a moral emotion that can easily go awry. It reduces one's tendency to behave in socially constructive ways.

Shame is a complex human emotion that can have multiple causes or triggers and that requires attention and acceptance in order to overcome.

Shame is an egocentric and morally blind emotion. It is rooted in our desire for social affirmation and constituted by our ability to sense how we appear to others.

Shame is what we feel when, due to some trait or action of ours, we come to perceive ourselves as fundamentally non-affirmable and despicable.

Shame is not about who you are as a person. Shame is an internalised experience about yourself, some aspect of your character, or how someone has treated you.

Shame is an unpleasant self-conscious emotion

Shame is an unpleasant and uncomfortable emotion that involves negative self-evaluation and self-reflection. It is associated with feelings of powerlessness, worthlessness, and exposure. When people feel shame, they often feel small and bad about themselves and wish they could vanish.

Shame is a self-conscious emotion, often triggered by the perception of having done something dishonourable, immoral, or improper. It can also be triggered by the failure to meet personal or societal standards and ideals. This can lead to feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness.

Shame is a universal emotion, but it can have different manifestations and varying levels of intensity. For example, transient shame is a fleeting feeling that occurs when someone makes a mistake, while chronic shame is a constant feeling of not being good enough, which can impair functioning and mental health.

Shame can be a powerful motivator for people to hide or deny their wrongdoings and can lead to feelings of isolation and withdrawal. It is often accompanied by physical symptoms such as blushing, perspiration, dizziness, and nausea.

While shame can have negative consequences, it also plays a role in survival and social behaviour. It can promote adherence to cultural norms, laws, and social conventions, fostering humility and teaching individuals about boundaries.

Shame is distinct from guilt, which arises from a specific action or behaviour, whereas shame pertains to the whole self and one's character. Guilt is often accompanied by a desire to make amends, while shame leads to a desire to hide or escape.

Shame is associated with depression and anxiety disorders

Shame is a self-conscious emotion, often associated with negative self-evaluation, feelings of worthlessness, and a desire to hide or escape. It is a universal emotion, but it is not always clear how it affects mental health.

Shame is a maladaptive self-conscious emotion that commonly co-occurs with depression and anxiety. It is characterised by feelings that the entire self is a failure, and individuals who experience shame tend to withdraw, hide, or escape.

Research has shown that there is a strong link between shame and depression, with one large-scale meta-analysis of 108 studies and over 22,000 subjects finding a clear connection. Another study of 140 volunteers between the ages of 11 and 16 found that teenagers who exhibited greater shame-proneness were also more likely to have symptoms of depression.

There is also a connection between shame-proneness and anxiety disorders such as social anxiety disorder and generalised anxiety disorder. Shame is associated with global and stable negative self-attributions, which may increase the risk of developing depressive symptoms and feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. Negative self-attributions may also give rise to feelings of inferiority, avoidance behaviours, and the threat of losing social status, which are characteristics of anxiety symptomatology.

Shame can also lead to social withdrawal, especially when it is a result of public stigma, and it can be related to or caused by other mental health conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and bipolar disorder.

Shame is linked to the feeling of humiliation

Shame is an emotion that involves negative self-evaluation, where one believes that something is wrong with them as a person. It is a universal emotion that is linked to feelings of humiliation. When people experience shame, they tend to feel small, flawed, and worthless. They may also wish to vanish or hide from the judging gaze of others.

Shame is often associated with feelings of humiliation when it occurs in front of other people. This form of shame can be critically embarrassing and is linked to public humiliation or unwanted exposure. For example, making a mistake in public and having someone point it out can lead to feelings of humiliation and, consequently, shame.

Shame can also be internalised, operating outside of conscious awareness. This type of shame can be challenging to identify and overcome, as it involves feeling flawed or inadequate without an external trigger. However, healing and growth from internalised shame are always possible.

The feeling of humiliation associated with shame can be intense and debilitating, affecting one's core sense of self. It can lead to a self-defeating cycle of negative emotions and thoughts, making it difficult to recover one's self-esteem. Shame can also have physical manifestations, such as blushing, perspiration, dizziness, or nausea.

Additionally, shame can be contagious, especially in abusive relationships or when experienced by children. It can be projected onto others, leading to a cycle of shaming and bullying behaviour.

Overall, shame is a powerful emotion that can have significant impacts on one's mental and physical health, self-esteem, and relationships. It is often linked to feelings of humiliation, whether internal or external, and can be a challenging emotion to overcome.

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