Shame the power of caring

About this book

All of us embrace a common humanity in which we search for meaning in living for essential belonging with others and for valuing of who we are as unique individuals. We need to feel that we are worthwhile in some special way as well as whole inside. We yearn to feel that our lives are useful that what we do and who we are do matter. Yet times come upon us when doubt creeps inside as if an inner voice whispers despair.Above all else shame reveals the self inside the person thereby exposing it to view. To feel shame is to feel seen in a painfully diminished sense.When I first wrote SHAME I had no idea whether others would find it of value. I had no conception of the impact it would have. All along my aim has been to further knowledge of the psychology of shame and its healing and eventually to create a language of the self by synthesizing interpersonal theory object-relations theory and affect theory.The struggle for identity is one of the recurring problems of our age. Each individual inevitably searches for answers to the "Who am I?" "Where do I belong?" Inner security depends on feeling whole worthwhile and valued from within. Identity is rooted both in wholeness of self and in essential belonging or identification with others.