Downregulation of shame affect

• Welcome to the BOL Forum on Shame and Affect Theory by John Grohol, 2/10/96
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    • SSRI'S AND DOWNMODULATION OF SHAME by JOHN HASSLER, 4/14/97
      
      

Hi, John! Welcome to our forum. Jim Pfrommer is en route to Texas and a new life, and may be too busy to check in with us for a while, so I thought I'd answer for him. The affect theory of Silvan Tomkins suggests that we are born with the equipment for nine innate physiological mechanisms that when activated act as amplifiers of whatever had triggered them. Each of these mechanisms produces both physiological and psychological effects; everything we call "attention" or "consciousness" is a product of their action.

One of these innate mechanisms is defined as an uncomfortable experience that operates over the range from mild shame to severe humiliation. In normal circumstances, it is triggered by any impediment to either of the two positive innate affects, the ones that operate over the range from mild interested to wild excitement, and from enjoyment (contentment) to joy. It is the impediment itself that is amplified by the innate affect for shame.

In my 1992 book "Shame and Pride: Affect, Sex, and the Birth of the Self," I suggested that no matter what triggers shame affect (the physiological mechanism), we have only four types of response. I called the pattern of these responses "the compass of shame," and named the four poles of the compass "withdrawal," "attack self," "avoidance," and "attack other." You might pick up that book (paperback) at your neighborhood bookstore to see what I mean by these labels.

Since shame affect is a physiological mechanism, I believe that it is as capable of being messed up by biological illness as any other bodily function. I believe that the SSRIs work to return toward normal aberrations in the function of this affect, and that what Jim refered to in his post last year was our experience that chronically angry people may get better from SSRI treatment because a shame glitch (one that is experienced at the attack other pole of the compass) has been fixed by the medication.

I hope this (very) brief summary of the underlying theory helps explain Jim's assertion.

• (No title) by John Hassler, 4/18/97
• Adaptive value of shame mechanism? by Dori LeCroy, 1/23/98
  • Adaptive value of an affect by Don Nathanson, 1/24/98
    • Guilt vs. shame? by Anna Kay, 1/10/99