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Derived from the Indo-European root skam or skem, the word shame means “to hide.” A complex and ubiquitous affect, shame has been described from many vertices by different authors. In this paper, I will attempt to (1) define and describe some varieties of the shameful experience, (2) present some differing theoretical models for shame with clinical commentary, (3) bring forward some defensive uses of shame and show its function as a resistance to the analytic process with attention to feelings of pride, (4) describe distinguishing characteristics between shame and guilt at both persecutory and depressive levels of functioning and their confusing similarities, and (5) conclude with the observation that primitive shame often arises in conjunction with aggressive, persecutory, and painful affects. The accompanying feelings of intense shame need to be understood and approached sensitively before these other issues can be worked through.
Shame and guilt are both ubiquitous and powerful emotional forces both in psychic life and social life and operate at every level of experience. Delineating common definitions for each, distinguishing the two from each other, understanding their mutual interplay, and examining their separate (though related) lines of development all contribute to our understanding of how our psyches work.