Shame and Self-Alienation: A Trauma-Informed Psychoanalytic Perspective

ABSTRACT

Self-alienation is an expression of deeply internalized shame. The self-alienated individual feels trapped, imprisoned by shame. Psychotherapy patients with significant relational trauma typically reveal a persistent internal battle against self-doubt, self-condemnation, and often self-loathing. They are referencing shameful fears and beliefs about themselves that are born from problematic attachment and developmental experiences. The author provides illustrations of work with self-alienated individuals integrating psychoanalytic principles with concepts from contemporary traumatology, with a focus on helping patients develop self-compassion as the chief agent of therapeutic healing and growth.

KEYWORDS:

• Self-alienation
• self-compassion
• shame
• relational trauma

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ https://twitter.com/i/status/1522700076631703552.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Daniel Shaw

Daniel Shaw, LCSW, is a trauma-informed psychoanalytic psychotherapist in private practice in New York City and Nyack, NY. His books Traumatic Narcissism: Relational Systems of Subjugation and Traumatic Narcissism and Recovery: Leaving the Prison of Shame and Fear are published by Routledge. He is faculty and clinical supervisor at The National Institute for the Psychotherapies, in New York City. He is the 2018 recipient of the Margaret Thaler Singer Award, presented by The International Cultic Studies Association, for outstanding achievement in advancing the study of coercive control and undue influence.