Not going to try to armchair diagnose... that way lies problems.
You might find it useful to know the difference between guilt and shame (pages 30-32 - this isn't from just this book, it's used in most books on shame I've read):
"... shame is a negative valuation of the self, whereas guilt is a negative valuation of the self's behaviour. The difference is between feeling, "I am a bad person," and "I am a worthwhile person who did a bad thing." Feelings of guilt, including tension, remorse, and regret, can be painful. But guilt does not affect one's core identity. By contrast, shame is an acutely painful emotion that typically includes the feeling of being exposed as a fundamentally defective or worthless being. One can, of course, feel like a bad person while feeling remorse about bad behaviour; guilt can be more or less shame-laced or shame-free. And situation-specific shame, along with guilt, can sometimes be a helpful moral emotion. However, shame and guilt have different origins, meanings and effects in human experience." (pg. 21)
That section goes on to describe the differences between shame and guilt. If you are interested in how chronic shame is identified, then the first "understanding" half of this book is very good for that. It describes and summarizes the various different theories and research very well. I have some of the references that it uses... and they are very very dry.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2016-07-20 02:43 pm (UTC)You might find it useful to know the difference between guilt and shame (pages 30-32 - this isn't from just this book, it's used in most books on shame I've read):
"... shame is a negative valuation of the self, whereas guilt is a negative valuation of the self's behaviour. The difference is between feeling, "I am a bad person," and "I am a worthwhile person who did a bad thing." Feelings of guilt, including tension, remorse, and regret, can be painful. But guilt does not affect one's core identity. By contrast, shame is an acutely painful emotion that typically includes the feeling of being exposed as a fundamentally defective or worthless being. One can, of course, feel like a bad person while feeling remorse about bad behaviour; guilt can be more or less shame-laced or shame-free. And situation-specific shame, along with guilt, can sometimes be a helpful moral emotion. However, shame and guilt have different origins, meanings and effects in human experience." (pg. 21)
That section goes on to describe the differences between shame and guilt. If you are interested in how chronic shame is identified, then the first "understanding" half of this book is very good for that. It describes and summarizes the various different theories and research very well. I have some of the references that it uses... and they are very very dry.