Chronic Shame in Clinical Practice

About the Training

Chronic shame is woven into the lives, histories, and presentations of many of the people we sit with in our clinical practices. At the heart of insecure attachment, chronic shame disrupts healthy relational development, and has far-reaching implications for one’s capacity to regulate affect, engage in healthy relationships, and on one’s internal working model- how one sees themselves, others and the world. This early template of self becomes intertwined with shaming experiences across the lifespan, creating cycles of multi-layered suffering. Because chronic shame is a relational injury, with its roots in early life, and woven into the fabric of the self, it is often confusing for both client and therapist, and can be a forceful inhibitor of the therapeutic process. Due to its non-verbal early origins, utilizing cognitive interventions and left hemispheric approaches are refractory, thus requiring clinicians to work from an embodied, affect regulation, relational orientation. Through interactive lecture, discussion, small group discussion, and clinical vignettes we will explore the ins and outs of chronic shame—from how it is formed, to how it presents relationally and clinically, all in service of increasing our capacity as therapist to recognize and work with it from an embodied, relational orientation. There will also be time set aside for some participants to present prepared case consultation to further integrate theory into practice.