The main root of many of our psychological defensive and compensatory mechanisms in life is an unconscious sense of shame and guilt. It expresses itself in people-pleasing and the search for others’ approval at any cost, pathological anger, avoidant and isolating behaviour, obsessive control and perfectionism, and various destructive forms of dependence and addiction.

Conventional psychotherapeutic approaches, including cognitive and behavioural methods such as CBT, have only a very limited effect on pathological feelings of shame and guilt, because the centre of these feelings in the brain lies in the basal ganglia, at a lower and deeper level than the neocortex, or our cognitive brain.

Shame is pre-verbal and pre-cognitive in us and takes shape in the earliest years of life. Any behaviour—especially during the first two years—that affects our inner sense of worth can, in later years, lead to destructive unconscious defence mechanisms against shame.

The use of shame and guilt in our systems of upbringing and education has a long history and has become institutionalized through the family and educational system in our culture. Later in life, from the ideal body image created by the media to the social valuation of material possessions and educational achievement, we remain continually exposed to destructive judgement from ourselves and others, turning shame and guilt into some of the deepest and most deeply rooted negative feelings in our lives.

In the sixth seminar in the series on depth and archetypal psychology, our aim is to expand our self-awareness of these feelings and their destructive consequences in life, and to take the first step in the alchemy of this foundational negative emotion. Details for participating in the seminar are below.

Online Seminar Series
Alchemy with Shadow Emotions
Sixth Seminar:
Moving Beyond Shame and Guilt
Saturday, 8 July 2023, 16:00 Tehran time