This fits me well.
Shame, Social Anxiety, and Psychosis
Researchers in England examined shame and social anxiety in a cross-sectional sample of people with and without psychosis. They found that social anxiety disorder (SAD) is “surprisingly prevalent among people with psychosis.” The authors suggest that shame cognitions “arising from a stigmatizing illness play a significant role in social anxiety in psychosis.” The article appeared in the FirstView section of Psychological Medicine on May 21, 2012.
https://www.madinamerica.com/2012/05/shame-social-anxiety-and-psychosis/
For me shame came first then social phobia then psychoses. Intense shame is at the root of this.
When I say proper self hatred I’m speaking more along the lines of disdain and contempt. It’s a turning your back on the evil self and letting it die. It’s a turning away and getting your attention off of self. The way we do this is by letting go and doing activities that get the attention flowing away from self. Things that we lose ourselves in in the present moment and get into what psychologist call flow. Athletes call it being in the zone. It’s the ultimate in focus and concentration. Things like
Going for a walk noticing the scenery and environment
Exercise
Listen to music
Read
Write, blog
Play games like solitare
Work
Color
Worship and praise God
Watch a wholesome or educational T.V. show
A hobby that focuses your attention like painting, putting models together. Anything that gets the attention focused and flowing outside of self.
We find our true inner self “new self” by turning outward not inward. We despise the demon self and turn away from it towards God. This is repentance. We turn our focused attention off of self and on to God and others. When we lose our selves we find ourselves. Everything balances out. We love God above all else and our neighbor as our self. (true self). This is when we find a proper self esteem. Beholding the glory of Christ we are being transformed into His image from glory to glory. We find our inner self but this isn’t our focus. God is. We are transformed when we concentrate our focus and attention on Christ. Here’s how C.S. Lewis put it:
There are no real personalities anywhere else. Until you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self. Sameness is to be found most among the most “natural” men, not among those who surrender to Christ. How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been: how gloriously different are the saints. ~~ C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, page 226
Here Lewis captures the paradox of self-forgetfulness. By turning our focus outwards towards Christ we become our truest selves. We die to self and are resurrected. God wants us to become the creations he intended all along. Valuable, dignified, good, reflections of Christ. We love (take care of) our true self.
When we’re self-conscious we feel ashamed and embarrassed, Karmin said
.
Shame and the psychosis continuum: A systematic review of the literature
Objectives Shame is increasingly implicated in the development and maintenance of several psychological problems including psychosis. The aim of the current paper was to review the research literature concerning the relationship between shame and the psychosis continuum, examining the nature and direction of this relationship. Method Systematic searches of databases PsycINFO, Medline, Scopus, and Web of Science (from the earliest available database date until November 2016) were undertaken to identify papers that examined the relationship between shame and psychosis or psychotic experiences. Results A total of 20 eligible papers were identified. Risk of bias assessment identified methodological shortcomings across the research in relation to small, unrepresentative samples and failure to control for confounding variables. Narrative synthesis suggested positive associations between shame and paranoia (n = 10, r = .29–.62), shame and psychosis (n = 1, r = .40), and shame and affiliation with voices (n = 1, β = .26), and suggested that shame was greater in those with psychosis compared to controls (n = 4, d = 0.76–1.16). Conclusions Overall, several studies provide partial support for the theory that shame is an important factor in relation to psychotic experiences in both clinical and non‐clinical populations, particularly paranoia. However, the predominance of cross‐sectional designs prevents any conclusions being drawn concerning the temporal nature of associations. Additional research is necessary to further delineate the role of shame in relation to specific psychotic experiences such as voice‐hearing. Longitudinal research is particularly needed to help establish the directionality and temporal aspects of effects. Practitioner points • Research indicates moderate‐to‐strong positive associations between shame and psychotic experiences in the existing literature. • The results provide preliminary evidence that shame may play a role in relation to psychosis and, more specifically, paranoia. • Findings should be interpreted with caution due to many disparities across the studies reviewed and methodological shortcomings (e.g., small sample sizes). • It is not currently possible to determine causality or direction of effect due to the cross‐sectional design of all existing studies.
Just got me a copy of this from the psychiatrist Peter Breggin. It agrees with the conclusions I’ve come to based on my experience with shame causing my psychoses.
When emotionally wounded people withdraw into themselves and into those intensely personal, fragmented, nightmarish worlds we call “schizophrenia,” “mania”, or “psychoses”, they are usually suffering from overwhelming shame reactions. Unbearably burned by inflictions of shame, as described in chapter 10, they no longer dare to be with people. By telling these distressed people they have “biochemical imbalances,” “genetic disorders,” psychiatry not only misleads them, it worsens their stigmatization, humiliation, and feelings of exclusion. They are not suffering from biochemical imbalances; they are suffering from unbearable humiliation. page 172
Being in the grip of shame is a horrific state, filled with conflicting emotions of extreme pride and humiliation. When we compensate for extreme shame by acting superior, grandiose, and invulnerable like a superhero, we become psychiatrically diagnosed as manic and bipolar. We are really trying to make up for how insignificant and powerless we feel. If we express our feelings of suspicion and distrust others will label or diagnose us paranoid. We are really trying to figure out what is going on that makes us feel so intimidated. Young people who become overwhelmed by extreme humiliation end up diagnosed schizophrenic because they withdraw deeply into themselves and begin to live in a world so private that it becomes a walking nightmare. They are really trying to escape from a world that has imposed abject humiliation upon them. page 171
I read all of them
I missed part of the quote from the book. Here it is:
As a psychiatrist and therapist, some of my most poignant, moving experiences have involved sharing the feelings of people who are undergoing overwhelming psychotic experiences with hallucinations and delusions. When these individuals have trusted me enough to allow me into their emotional world, what they have shared with me is the experience of drowning in shame. I have sat with them while their faces physically swelled as if bursting and turned blood red with humiliation. page 172
Hollytree, I really do think that these three threads of yours are extremely important and that truth lies somewhere between the lines of all our posts. if you can help me/us make even a small step forward then you will be doing us a great service.
I have a video (only seven minutes) which includes some talk before a song. I would be grateful for your thoughts on what is said/sung.
In what ways is Andrew Peterson right and in what ways incorrect?
Any takers would be welcome.
Just looking at the title I would say that we are to be kind and compassionate to ourselves. When we loathe the evil self we turn our backs on evil towards Christ. Evil is non existence (nothing). We simply forget ourselves. We lose ourselves to find ourselves just as you do in reading poetry, reading books, writing books and poetry, exercising, coloring, painting. We concentrate our focus on Christ in praise and worship. By beholding his glory we are transformed into His image from glory to glory. We become compassionate, gentle and kind. Our value and worth is in Christ. It’s intrinsic and not based on worldly views of fame money and success. Christ was an outcast in the world’s view of things. He emptied Himself and became nothing as He took on the shame of His people. When we die to self we are united to Christ through faith. We are nobody in the worldly sense of the term. Christ came for the shamed outcasts of the world. In Christ we have eternal significance as we die to self. We become “nothing” so that Christ can be made much of. Paradoxically when we find our value and worth in Christ through faith we are liberated to do much for Christ. Again, it’s not based on worldly things outside ourselves (Power, fame, money, success). We live to glorify the name of Christ. In Christ we find our value and acceptance as we become a child of God. Our sense of belonging and sense that we count comes from being a child of God. We no longer try to earn or prove our worth. It’s a gift from God. We will have compassion on the sick just like Christ did. Jesus is for bringing healing to the outcast
In complete contradiction of Trumpsters Dr. Richard Beck finds Jesus in the poor, outcast, and oppressed. I had tears of joy as I read his new book. Richard Beck has the heart of Jesus. I recommend his new book to all. Here’s some blurbs with the description of the book on the back:
When Richard Beck first led a Bible study at a maximum-security prison, he went to meet God, and meet God he did. With Beck’s signature combination of Biblical reflection, theological reasoning, and psychological insight, he shows how God always meets us in the marginalized, the oppressed, and the refugee. Stories from Beck’s own life illustrate this truth - God comes to him in the poor, the crippled, the smelly. Although we are predisposed to like those who are similar to us and avoid those who are unlike us, the call of the gospel is to override those impulses with compassion, to “widen the circle of our affection.” In the end Beck turns to the Little Way of Saint Therese of Lisieux for guidance in doing even the smallest acts with kindness, and he lays out a path that any of us can follow.
At a time when Christianity is in danger of being hijacked by the nefarious agendas of nationalism, racism, and xenophobia, Richard Beck calls us to welcome Jesus, who so often comes in the guise of the maligned or forgotten stranger. In Beck’s brilliant “Stranger God”, we find a beautiful portrait of a Christianity that prioritizes care for the indignant, infirm, immigrant, and imprisoned. I cannot think of a more timely book! ~~ Brian Zahnd, author of Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God.
Me and Dr. Beck are both fans of Johnny Cash so I dedicate “Man In Black”
Anger’s not the same thing as hate. The hate I’m referring to is a passive hatred. It’s disdain and contempt. It’s a turning away from the evil self (repentance) towards Christ. It’s a turning your back on evil self. The more you focus on the evil self the worse it gets. This is true with shame anxiety and panic attacks. They are all self-conscious emotions. The idea is to lose yourself to find yourself.
Did you notice that was what Peterson was saying?
Did you notice that’s what I’ve been saying? We find our inner true self by turning outward towards Christ. Turning inward is shame based for me. It a shame spiral.
Yes I did - I even quoted you. Did you notice that’s what Peterson was saying as well?
Yes but he says to accept yourself (total self) also. I say repent from evil self accept true self. At my core I’m good. Hating the old sinful self (ego) leads to repentance when I mess up. I don’t just accept the old sinful self.
Yes.
Do you think there is a link between proper self-hatred and humility or are they different?
Absolutely a link. If I don’t ever experience any shame or guilt I become the center of the universe where everything revolves around me. I’m not alone in this either. I just recently ordered a book called “letting go of shame” that agrees with and confirms my experience.
From the chapter “Shame Deficiency”
People who are shame deficient are emotionally immature. Something in their development has gone wrong. They are unable to find their proper place in the universe because the only place they know is center stage. They are disconnected without even knowing it. To put it simply, they need more shame in their lives…The message they tell the world is this: “I am the most important person ever born. You must give me all your love, time, and appreciation.” People who are shame deficient often believe they deserve special treatment just because they exist. They want to be placed on a pedestal where they can be worshipped and adored. They simply think it is obvious that they are better than anyone else. They are egotistical to the point of having no room to care about others.
We need to realize shame can have great value as long as we are not overwhelmed by it. The person who experiences shame becomes acutely aware of who he is and the boundary between himself and others. Carl Schneider writes in “Shame, Exposure and Privacy” that there would be no sense of privacy or intimacy without shame. Shame also promotes humanity, humility, and competence.
Dr. Ronald T. Potter-Efron is a clinical psychotherapist. He has a M.S.W from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in sociology from Purdue University. A former university professor, he specializes in the treatment of addictive disorders and anger and resentment counseling. He also is active in training professional counselors. He taught at an experimental college for eight years, and has trained in gestalt therapy techniques. Ronald is the author of Shame, Guilt and Alcoholism: Treatment Issues in Clinical Practice