Shame and BPD
In researching the implications of shame in BPD, I found this research study:
Shame and Implicit Self-Concept in Women With Borderline Personality Disorder
* Nicolas Rüsch, M.D., Klaus Lieb, M.D., Ines Göttler, M.D.,
Christiane Hermann, Ph.D., Elisabeth Schramm, Ph.D., Harald Richter, Ph.D.,
Gitta A. Jacob, Ph.D., Patrick W. Corrigan, Psy.D., and Martin Bohus, M.D. **OBJECTIVE: *Shame is considered to be a central emotion in borderline personality disorder and to be related to self-injurious behavior, chronic suicidality, and anger-hostility. However, its level and impact on people with borderline personality disorder are largely unknown. The authors examined levels of self-reported shame, guilt, anxiety, and implicit shame-related self-concept in women with borderline personality disorder and assessed the association of shame with self-esteem, quality of life, and anger-hostility.
*METHOD: *Sixty women with borderline personality disorder completed self-report measures of
shame- and guilt-proneness, state shame, anxiety, depression, self-esteem, quality of life, and clinical symptoms. Comparison groups consisted of 30 women with social phobia and 60 healthy women. Implicit shame-related self-concept (relative to anxiety) was assessed by the Implicit Association Test.*RESULTS: *Women with borderline personality disorder reported higher levels of shame- and guilt-proneness, state shame, and anxiety than women with social phobia and healthy comparison subjects. The implicit self-concept in women with borderline personality disorder was more shame-prone (relative to anxiety-prone) than in women in the comparison groups. After depression was controlled for, shame-proneness was negatively correlated with self-esteem and quality of life and positively correlated with anger-hostility.
*CONCLUSIONS: *Shame, an emotion that is prominent in women with borderline personality disorder, is associated with the implicit self-concept as well as with poorer quality of life and self-esteem and greater anger-hostility. Psychotherapeutic approaches to borderline personality disorder need to address explicit and implicit aspects of shame.
http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/164/3/500
3 Comments
Tanisha
Being lonely in a crowded room. Feeling sad and not knowing why, not being able to sleep, waking up in the morning not being able to move, giving up your life out of no choice, crying for no reason, making a demon appear in your head. Listen to its horrid world making your life spin in circles not knowing what path to take. The dead end of a road. The coffee black piece in your soul, not resting till the end of time, never letting it forget you, eating your soul, mind and heart. Try to run as you will, you life will be taken. Draging you one foot at a time into hell. The suicide you wish you could have just to end the pain. Pity when you hate others sympathy. Self hatred, sadness, anger, darkness, deadly, lonely, sorrowing, regreting, perpetual, and killing. Giving up your dreams to be stuck in the enternal force of demonic gravity. It is a world. It is my life.
Kate
Wow, did you get into my head. I always feel like life is a huge black hole and I can’t get out, and most of the time I don’t really want to, but would like company in there sometime. I want to live, I want to die, round and round. I want love, but distrust and hurt those who love me. I do well and then shoot myself in the foot just when it looks like things will go well. I hate myself, and think I’m disgusting, I want to hurt myself, but I don’t like how the marks look so I always try to find some place to hide the scars. I hate that I want to die so badly so often and don’t have the nads to step up and do the deed. Life is so hard. What’s so bad is I know what’s normal, but I can’t stay in normal. I have a huge insight but it does no good. My soul cries out for love and understanding and acceptance, and if I got it, I could live with it. I’d have to test those that do. I don’t want to be in any club that would admit me. This is my world. My life
kevin blumer
tanishas comments form the first comment describes me so so well but im a bloke i dont really feel shame i dont think i feel bad instaeda or is that the same thing i dont know im out my bad times or my really bad times but i do know that black hole no i really strugle to get out and i mean really struggle i know i am out of it at the moment but it will come again and i do fear it because its stronger than my head is that makes mutch sense