NCJ Number
212019
Journal
Child Maltreatment Volume: 10 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2005 Pages: 377-386
Date Published
November 2005
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This article offers a commentary on the articles contained in this journal issue by highlighting the dilemmas and consequences inherent in addressing shame as a central emotional mediator in child maltreatment recovery.
Abstract
The articles in this issue underscore the importance and centrality of shame in the formation and maintenance of deleterious symptoms related to child maltreatment. This commentary focuses on shame’s regulatory goals, the functional significance of shame’s absence or presence, and shame’s causal status in relation to recovery outcomes. Leary’s (1999) analysis of self-esteem is used to illuminate these three issues by juxtaposing issues in the self-esteem literature with issues concerning shame presented in this journal issue. The author brings up questions concerning the diverse functions of shame and the steps needed to uncover these diverse functions. The impact of the complexities of shame on interventions with child maltreatment survivors is considered as the author suggests that the directional pathways from shame to posttraumatic stress disorder or other clinical outcomes should be eliminated in favor of treating these variables as indicative of problems with recovery. The need to closely study and unravel the functions of shame in diverse samples is underscored. References