If as a child we suffer severe interpersonal trauma in the form of rejection by a primary-carer or similar experience, a part of us may ‘split off’ (dissociate) and act as our protector in order to prevent us from becoming the victim of yet further psychological damage. Fairbairn referred to this dissociated part of ourselves […]
Feelings of shame can be excruciatingly painful; at their worst, they can cause us to completely isolate ourselves so that we avoid contact with others to the extent that we may become virtual recluses, perhaps only daring to venture out of our house or flat when absolutely necessary. Indeed, the word ‘shame‘ derives from the Indian […]
Effects Of Repressed Shame : We have seen in other articles published on this site that if we have experienced significant childhood trauma we may, as adults, develop profound feelings of inadequacy, worthlessness, self-hatred, rock-bottom self-esteem, feelings of being ‘innately bad’ and irrational self-blame for what we experienced. This pernicious brew of feelings about the […]
