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While the rote of shame in various psychological conditions has been discussed by many psychoanalytic writers, including Freud, it has usually been underestimated in comparison to guilt in terms of the role it plays in emotional distress. More recently, the importance of shame is gaining increasing recognition, especially as we struggle to conceptualize (and treat) severe developmental disturbances. For clinical social workers, understanding the dynamics of shame is particularly relevant to our practice since many of our clients grow up in disenfranchised communities with limited access to resources, often leading them to feel that they are not deserving and worthwhile people.
In Understanding Shame, Goldberg takes a comprehensive look at the origin and nature of shame and suggests specific guidelines for effective treatment. The main theme of this book is that shame and its variants (e.g., embarrassment, humiliation) lies in the heart of our understanding of human suffering far more than the psychoanalytic literature suggests. The author is a well-published psychoanalyst. His previous writings have included contributions to the recent spate of psychoanalytic readings on shame.
This ambitious book is divided into three sections. The first section begins by describing the numerous and often unrecognized ways that shame can significantly affect a patient's daily life. Goldberg then traces the roots of these shameful feelings to the earliest