Shame vs. Guilt – research has shown that shame is highly correlated with (cont)
Why Guilt is Great and Shame Sucks | The Living Philosophy | The Living Philosophy
The difference between success and stagnationImage by Gerd Altmann from PixabayYou might expect the difference between guilt and shame to be a trivial, semantic distinction but nothing could be further from the truth. Research has shown that shame is highly correlated with addiction and depression (Fossum & Mason 1986), suicide (Lester 1998), bullying, aggression, violence (Tangney & Dearing 2003) and eating disorders (Sanftner et al. 2011). And if that doesn’t grab your attention then here’s the real kicker: guilt is inversely correlated with all of these things (Hastings et al. 2000).In this article we are going to explain the distinction between shame and guilt — what it is, how to spot the difference and how to change your patterns so you spiral upwards towards growth rather than downwards into the stagnant swamps of shame.Shame and guilt are two responses to messing up. The difference is in how the error is explained: shame is a focus on self; guilt is a focus on behaviour (Brown 2010). Shame says “I am bad”; guilt says “I did something bad”.The Swamps of ShameBrene Brown is a researcher at the University of Houston who spent the first decade of her career studying the psychological kingdom of shame. In her work she defines shame as an“intensely painful feeling or…