Shame – a powerful and destabilizing emotion – is a focus of treatment for so many in psychoanalytic therapy. Shame develops when affects and patterns of relating are felt to be unacceptable to important others. Such experiences are then not allowed into consciousness, left instead to become a sense of “defectiveness or badness . . . accompanied by feelings of isolation, shame, and self-loathing” (Stolorow, in Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 2002, page 681). In this workshop we will talk about the roots of shame, the role of shame in psychoanalytic treatment, and treatment for the experience of shame. I will present two patients for purposes of contrast – one raised with shaming parents, the other non-shaming. Nancy Hicks will comment on my cases and present one of her own. We welcome discussion and look forward to an informative and enlivening evening for us all. We hope to see you there!
Louisa Livingston
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