The Psychology of Shame: Theory and Treatment of Shame-Based Syndromes

 This book presents an interconnected theory of personality, psychopathology, and psychotherapy based on the affect theory and script theory of Silvan Tomkins. If, as Tomkins argues, affect is the primary innate biological motivating mechanism, then affect must be our starting point in constructing a theory of personality. Further, affect must frame our understanding of how psychopathology originates as well as how it becomes maintained over time. But the primacy of affect must also translate into application. Theories must have utility as well as explanatory power. Hence, the psychotherapeutic intervention strategies, which are systematically developed in Part II, are a direct outgrowth of shame theory. These new principles of psychotherapy extend shame theory into action; they also permit other researchers and clinicians to further verify the theory presented in Part I. 
    In Part III, we examine several important clinical problems and contemporary issues. Given the unique experience of particular minorities living in American society, we need to examine the role of shame in profoundly shaping the evolving identities of racial, ethnic, and religious minorities. Just as shame is a societal dynamic, impacting the lives of various minority groups that inhabit a given society, shame is equally a force in culture generally. Every culture experiences shame, but differently. Cultures utilize shame as a means of furthering social control, as an important socializing tool; cultures also pattern shame quite distinctively. 
    Not only are identity and culture held captive by shame, so is ideology. Ideology is rooted in affect. Contemporary society bears witness to the magnification of various ideological disputes that threaten social stability, disputes like those now raging over abortion, immigration, and gun control. Affect itself first gives rise to ideologies, and affect also becomes polarized during controversy, propelling ideology itself into a governing psychological force. Here we enter the arena of hatred and violence. The interplay among identity, culture, and ideology can be illuminated in previously unrecognized ways by an affect theory perspective. 
    Likewise, the concept of governing scenes has important implications. How scenes are first constructed and subsequently reactivated has a direct bearing on understanding the nature of trauma as well as the reenactment of traumatic scenes. Instead of continuously replaying in the form of flashbacks, however, those scenes can be banished entirely from awareness, often for years--resulting in such distinctive and disparate syndromes as post-traumatic stress disorder and childhood sexual abuse.