| While shame plays a vital role in psychosocial functioning and development, it has also been implicated in a number of mental health problems such as depression, suicidal behaviour, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Given the potentially debilitating impact of shame on adjustment, an understanding of how individuals cope with this emotion is essential. The purpose of this study was to develop a theory of how adults recover from significant shame experiences, based on the perspective of individuals who recalled events or situations that elicited intense feelings of shame. The participants were 9 women and 4 men between the ages of 24 and 70 (mean age 40.2 years old), from diverse cultural backgrounds. Data came from interviews in which participants provided retrospective accounts of their shame experience and recovery processes. The study relied upon grounded theory methodology. In keeping with grounded theory, data collection and analysis occurred simultaneously, using theoretical sampling and the constant comparative method. From the analysis of participants' accounts, shame is conceptualized as an Assault on the Self, where the individual's self-concept, social connection, and sense of power and control come under attack. Shame is associated with negative self-judgment along with feelings of exposure, self-doubt, powerlessness, anger/self-blame, and the impulse to hide. In the theory that was created to explain the recovery process, individuals engage in a process of self-reconstruction or Rebuilding of the Self , marked by five interrelated sub-processes, including: Connecting, Refocusing, Accepting, Understanding, and Resisting . Through rebuilding, the individual's self-concept, social connection, and sense of power and control are enhanced. Based on the current findings, counselling interventions aimed at the resolution of shame should focus on: (a) building clients' social support system; (b) encouraging clients to engage in self-enhancing behaviours, goals, and interests; (c) helping clients to face, process, and accept their emotions; (d) facilitating clients' understanding, meaning making, and externalization of self-blame; and (e) strengthening clients' resistance to future assaults on the self. |
