Shame and the Shameless: Creative and Destructive Transmissions

National Institute for the Psychotherapies
250 West 57th Street, Suite 501
Conference Room
New York, NY 10107

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Shame is a pervasive and problematic affect. Psychoanalysts have articulated these problematic features: the way shame cripples the self and self-agency, igniting rage, vengeance, withdrawal from intimacy and the urge to humiliate others. As clinicians we see these states assailing our patients. As citizens, we witness the violent consequences that occur in humiliated cultures. Thus, as psychoanalysts, our emphasis has been on the healing of shame. But as individuals and as citizens, we are also witness to another phenomenon: an absence of shame where shame should be present. From a systems perspective it sometimes appears as if the world is split between those who suffer an excess of shame, and those who disown their own shame by displacing it into others. This split is maintained in our psyches, in our families, and in our cultures, reproducing a shame imbalance in these systems. This mechanisms keeps power dynamisms intact.

In this presentation, we will we take a psycho-cultural perspective, examining both the developmental and cultural arrangements of shame AND shamelessness. When is shame destructive and when can it function as a creative force? When does it close us down to recognizing the other, and when does it open our eyes to the other? Can it actually enhance empathy and agency? How do we recalibrate these systemic distributions of shame so that inequality and power dynamisms begin to shift? To examine these questions we will look at intrapsychic, interpersonal, and cultural examples, with reference to gender race and class. 

Learning Objectives:

1. Examine the developmental trajectory of shame
2. Contrast with the developmental trajectory of shamelessness
3. Discuss skills to ameliorate excess shame and evoke healthy shame where it is absent

Continuing Education

This event is approved for 2.0 CE contact hours for psychologists, social workers, licensed psychoanalysts, and licensed mental health clinicians: 

The National Institute for the Psychotherapies is approved by the American Psychological Association to offer continuing education credits for psychologists. The National Institute for the Psychotherapies maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

The National Institute for the Psychotherapies is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0018.

The National Institute for the Psychotherapies is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychoanalysts #Psyan-0004.

National Institute for the Psychotherapies (NIP) is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0059.

Personalized CE certificates will be distributed at the end of this event. Due to New York State requirements, persons arriving more than 15 minutes late or leaving more than 15 minutes early will not receive a CE certificate.You must attend all parts of both days. 

Fees

$50 general public
$40 candidates & students
$10 NIP candidates

Refunds, & Cancellation Policy
Cancellation requests made more than a week prior to the event will be given a full refund of registration fees. Refunds will not be granted for cancellation requests made within a week of the event or for no-shows on the day of the event.