Outline

The Neurobiology of Shame

• The role of shame in traumatic experience
• Shame as an animal defense survival response
• Effects of shame on autonomic arousal
• Why shame can be treatment-resistant
• Limitations of research & potential risks

Shame and Attachment: Its Evolutionary Purpose

• Shame and the attachment system
• Rupture and repair of shame states in attachment formation
• What happens to shame without interpersonal repair
• Shame as a defensive response to traumatic attachment

The Meaning of Shame in the Treatment of Trauma

• Trauma and procedural learning
• Shame as a survival strategy
• Implicit memory of disgust, degradation and humiliation
• Shame-based meaning-making
• Cognitive schemas that exacerbate shame
• Vicious circle of shame
• Vicious circle of shame and anger Internal working models

Treating Shame

• Why shame is hard to overcome
• Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: physiological state as the entry point for treatment
• Mindfulness-based techniques to combat trauma responses
• Regulate shame states with somatic interventions
• Use mindfulness interventions to inhibit self-judgment
• Work with shame as implicit memory
• Work with shame-based cognitive schemas

Healing Shame: Acceptance and Compassion

• Dis-identifying with the shame
• Re-contextualize shame as a younger self or part
• Shame and the Structural Dissociation model
• Getting to know our “selves”
• Recognize the role of critical voices and judgmental parts
• Dual awareness of who we are now and who we were then bringing our adult compassion to our childhood vulnerability

Healing Shame in the Therapeutic Relationship

• How can we use therapy to ‘repair’ shame states?
• The role of therapeutic empathy
• Therapists as neurobiological regulators
• The social engagement system in trauma recovery
• Incorporate playfulness, acceptance and curiosity