Therapeutic Interventions with Shame

Dear Dr. Nathanson:

I am intrigued and delighted at your unique, differentiated, and precise understanding of shame, an affect with which I have worked strenously personally and professionally for some time. I am also grateful for your making yourself accesible on this forum.

While I feel I grasp some of the basics of your theory of shame, it is not obvious to me yet how one applies this understanding to generate therapeutic intervention which is equally precise and differentiated. From what I gather so far, your interventions include identifying the affect of shame, encouraging the direct experiencing of it and recall of associated previous experiences with it, identification of compass positions, and contexualizing and normalizing the whole picture. However, I suspect that this is simpler than what you do. Could you please clarify more how one works with someone who is shame-bound?

Sincerely,

Ed Schmookler, PhD.

• What to do with shame by Jim Pfrommer, 5/7/96
  • Somatization and Avoidance by B.B., 12/31/96
    • somatization by Don Nathanson, 1/2/97
• Sophisticated question by Don Nathanson, 5/7/96
  • Therapeutic Intereventions with Shame, Experienced by Ed Schmookler, PhD., 5/8/96
    • The good part of shame by Don Nathanson, 5/9/96
    • Bravo, Ed Schmookler! by Steven H. Shmurak, Ph.D., 10/15/97