The contribution of shame to post‐psychotic trauma

Abstract

The results support the importance of assessing shame as a multi-faceted construct and suggest that assessing shame directly associated with mental illness is a worthwhile endeavour.

Retracted: A meta‐analysis and theoretical critique of oxytocin and psychosis: Prospects for attachment and compassion in promoting recovery

“…It involves a sense of vulnerability and inferiority that comes from experiencing ourselves as being looked down upon by others (external shame) and from evaluating ourselves in a negative way (internal shame). Shame was found to predict post-psychotic emotional dysfunction in the form of trauma, depression (Turner, Bernard, Birchwood, Jackson, & Jones, 2012), and social anxiety (Michail & Birchwood, 2009). CFT proposes that a shame self-focus and self-attacking block affiliation to self and others and thereby impair threat regulation.…”

Self‐Compassion and Self‐Criticism in Recovery in Psychosis: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Study

“…The experience of psychosis can lead to experiences of both internal and external shame (Turner, Bernard, Birchwood, Jackson, & Jones, ). External shame is the sense that one is judged negatively in the minds of others; in contrast, internal shame relates to the negative evaluation of the self (Gilbert, ).…”

“…High levels of shame and self‐criticism are common features for many people in recovery from psychosis (Gumley et al., ) and are associated with postpsychotic depression (Iqbal, Birchwood, Chadwick, & Trower, ), postpsychotic social anxiety, (Birchwood et al., ) and postpsychotic trauma symptoms (for example, intrusive reexperiencing, avoidance, and hyperarousal that occur after an episode of psychosis; Turner et al., ). Thus, shame and self‐criticism may contribute to the experience of psychosis as well as secondary difficulties that may delay or prevent functional and symptomatic recovery.…”

Are shame and self‐criticism the path to the pervasive effect of social stress reactivity on social functioning in psychosis?

“…There are two described types of shame: internal (focused on the self) and external (focused on others). External shame has been associated with higher levels of paranoia, negative symptoms and post-psychotic distress (Argel, 2018;Birchwood et al, 2007;Castilho et al, 2017;Turner, Bernard, Birchwood, Jackson, & Jones, 2013), on one hand, and difficulties in personal recovery on the other (Wood & Irons, 2016). People with psychotic symptoms have reported higher levels of external shame when compared with non-clinical controls (Keen, George, Scragg, & Peters, 2017).…”