Search Results (92)

Ninety-five-year-old Doris Held, a great niece of Sigmund Freud, has been convening the Shakespeare Reading Group in Northampton, Massachusetts, my hometown, since she moved here in 2016. In the following essay, which is a personal response to my experience of this group of Shakespearean readers, to Doris Held, and to the work of Shakespeare in general, I attempt to chart the full impact of the Bard’s work on my life and on the world around me. I am neither a scholar nor a historian. In a true sense, I am a bystander Shakespearean, who has received deep reward and benefit from the experience, but it is Doris Held and her group who opened my eyes to the precise nature of this unexamined reward. Doris brought the spirit of the group from Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she had been a dues-paying member for decades of something called the Old Cambridge Shakespeare Association, which itself dates to 1880. My wife Debra and I attended the first meeting in Northampton more than a decade ago, and we have been receiving emails from Doris four times a year ever since. While these communications often induce guilt, they invariably lead to pleasures that I would never want to relinquish. That is a complicated dynamic in my routine, and I try to grapple with its ebb and flow in the pages that follow. Each time I get one, I have a version of the same conversation in my head. Is Doris still doing this? Haven’t they done all the plays by now? All things considered, wouldn’t they—and I—rather be home watching a true crime documentary about Gaby Petito on Netflix? What the hell is William Shakespeare to me anyway? At this point, if I’m honest, Shakespeare is Doris. The experience with this group led me in two directions. One took me back to my now long-ago history with Shakespeare’s work as an actor in college. The other took me via historical research into the prehistory of Doris Held’s previous Shakespeare group in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The two paths gave me a deeper grasp of the influence of his work across the world and on my own life. Full article

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a chronic mental disorder characterized by anhedonia, loss of desire, guilt, suicidal thoughts, and appetite changes. It is reported that individuals with MDD resort to binge eating to escape from negative feelings. In this study, we aimed to determine the relationship between binge eating behavior and the concept of psychological pain associated with emotions such as shame, guilt, and anger in individuals with MDD. We conducted the study in the Psychiatry Outpatient Clinics of Balcalı Hospital, Çukurova University Faculty of Medicine. The sample consisted of 147 individuals with MDD without psychotic symptoms and 128 healthy controls with sociodemographic characteristics similar to the MDD group. We administered a sociodemographic data form, the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), Psychache Scale (PS), Tolerance for Mental Pain Scale-10 (TMPS-10), Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11), and Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q-13). Eighty-two (55.7%) of the patients with MDD were diagnosed with binge eating disorder (BED). In the group of MDD patients with BED comorbidity, the EDE-Q-13 total, binging subscale, and HDRS scores were significantly higher than those of the other groups (p < 0.05 for each group), with large to very large effect sizes (e.g., EDE-Q-13 binging d = 1.04; HDRS d = 1.91; PS d = 1.22). There was no significant difference between the MDD groups (with and without BED) regarding the BIS and BIS subscales’ subscores, PS, and TMPS scores. For participants with MDD, there was a significant same-directional correlation between EDE-Q-13 binging, HDRS, BIS, and PS scores (p < 0.05 for each), with moderate to strong effect sizes (EDE-Q-13 binging and HDRS: r = 0.398, p < 0.001; binging and PS: r = 0.273, p < 0.001; binging and BIS: r = 0.233, p = 0.005; binging and TMPS-10: r = –0.257, p = 0.002). Additionally, a negative correlation was observed between TMPS and the scores for EDE-Q-13 binging, HDRS, BIS, and PS. A linear regression analysis indicated that depression severity and BMI were the strongest predictors of binge eating behavior (R² = 0.243; f² = 0.32). Based on our results, we concluded that the presence of binge eating behavior in patients with MDD is associated with more severe depressive symptoms, psychological pain, impulsivity, and lower tolerance to psychological pain. The finding that binge eating behavior was most strongly associated with depression severity and body mass index (BMI) supports the notion that binge eating behavior is a maladaptive attitude. Longitudinal studies comparing individuals with different BMIs in different clinical samples are needed to confirm our results. Full article

Background/Objectives: There is scientific evidence showing that body- and/or body weight-related blaming, guilting, and shaming continue to be both promoted and tolerated in many societal contexts, including schools and healthcare settings. A deeply ingrained belief still prevails among many individuals that inducing these negative emotions can serve as a motivator for children and adolescents to engage in obesity treatment. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review is to examine these emotions (blame, guilt, shame) in relation to body weight and their impact on psychological functioning within the pediatric population affected by overweight and obesity. Methods: Articles were searched up using PubMed and Web of Science in June 2023 and March 2025. The search was conducted without limiting the years of publication. The inclusion criteria included the following: (1) pediatric samples, (2) full text available, and (3) original research articles. Articles were excluded if they were editorials, letters, replies from authors, review articles, and articles without a full text. Results: The initial search returned 199 results. A total of 16 articles were included in the study. Analysis of the collected records revealed associations between body- or weight-related blame, guilt, and shame and various aspects of psychological functioning in the pediatric population such as (a) interpersonal context (e.g., social stigma, bullying, teasing history, social connectedness, weight-related language used by parents in conversations with children and adolescents; (b) intrapsychic context—relationship with eating and food (e.g., binge eating, dietary restraint, emotional eating, and the risk of developing eating disorders); (c) intrapsychic context—self-perception (e.g., self-esteem, feelings of worthlessness, self-compassion, self-efficacy, perceived control); (d) intrapsychic context—emotional functioning (e.g., emotional distress, anxiety, depression, emotion regulation strategies); and (e) intrapsychic context—additional psychological factors (e.g., mindfulness, quality of life, willingness to seek help, and motivation for both help-seeking and sustaining successful lifestyle changes). Conclusions: Understanding the dynamics of body- and/or weight-related blame, guilt, and shame among children and adolescents with overweight and obesity is essential for developing effective support systems that enhance their well-being and psychological resilience in both the prevention and treatment of obesity. Further research is needed to explore the relationships between body- and weight-related blame, guilt, and shame and psychological functioning in pediatric populations with overweight and obesity, including the dynamics of child–parent–healthcare provider interactions, the context of parenting skills and attitudes that support the child during obesity treatment, the long-term consequences of body- and weight-related blame, guilt, and shame, the relationship between healthcare providers’ tendencies to engage in body- and weight-related shaming or blaming and their communication skills and mental well-being (e.g., levels of professional burnout, emotion regulation skills, and personality traits), as well as the influence of social media on body- and weight-related shame, guilt, and blame. Full article

Background/Objectives: The objective of this research was to analyze the experiences and factors associated with perinatal grief in mothers in the urban context of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. Methods: The sample consisted of seven mothers who experienced a loss during pregnancy up to the second month after the baby’s birth, occurring between 2015 and 2020 in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. The mean age of the mothers was 34.86 years (SD = 3.13), and they belonged to middle or upper-middle socioeconomic levels. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using descriptive qualitative analysis. Results: The identified characteristics of perinatal grief were sadness, anger, guilt, emotional numbness, social isolation, and anxiety. Factors contributing to grief processing included support from the partner and family, when they accommodated and respected the mother’s needs. Factors hindering the grieving process included social and cultural environments that often silence and minimize the loss, a history of previous losses, the desire to be pregnant, and the mother’s life expectations and projects focused on motherhood. Conclusions: In conclusion, this research suggests that perinatal losses in the Bolivian context may be influenced by factors such as knowledge of the cause of death, previous loss experiences, and their emotional effects. The limitations of the study include the lack of diversity in participants’ educational and socioeconomic backgrounds and the restriction of the sample to an urban area in Bolivia. Emotional interventions to support these bereaved mothers in those complex moments should be integrated in the Bolivian healthcare system. Full article

Background/Objectives: Eating disorders (EDs) are complex psychopathological conditions involving dysfunctional eating behaviors, excessive body image concerns, and impaired emotional regulation. Among moral emotions, guilt plays a significant role in ED dynamics, influencing both symptomatology and interpersonal relationships. This study examines specific guilt subtypes (normative and altruistic guilt) using a specific psychometric tool. Methods: Forty-three adults with anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), or binge eating disorder (BED) were recruited from the Eating Disorder Center of the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” or referred by psychotherapists. Diagnoses followed DSM-5 criteria. Participants completed the Moral Orientation Guilt Scale (MOGS), assessing guilt subtypes, and the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2), measuring ED symptomatology. Spearman’s rank correlation and stepwise multiple regression analyses were used to identify relationships between guilt dimensions and ED-related symptoms. Results: MOGS subscales were positively correlated with ED symptomatology. Normative guilt was significantly associated with binging and purging (ρ = 0.26, p < 0.05), while altruistic guilt predicted higher interpersonal distrust (t = 3.4, p < 0.01). Regression analysis revealed that age negatively influenced interpersonal distrust (t = −2.9, p < 0.01). Conclusions: In the population examined, guilt significantly influences ED symptomatology and interpersonal functioning, with specific dimensions linked to distinct behaviors and traits. Therapeutic interventions targeting guilt may enhance treatment outcomes by addressing ED emotional underpinnings. However, the results should be interpreted with caution due to the small sample size and lack of longitudinal data to establish causality. Further research with larger samples and longitudinal designs is necessary to validate these findings. Full article

The first 16 weeks postpartum are particularly challenging for a new mother and are associated with an elevated risk of experiencing psychological distress. Guilt and shame have been identified as significant predictors of other forms of psychological distress, such as anxiety and depression. However, guilt and shame are poorly distinguished in pre-existing literature. The current study used inductive thematic analysis to explore lived experiences of guilt and shame in the early postpartum period. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 women who had given birth in the past 16 weeks and who were residing in the UK at the time of the investigation. All those interviewed had internalised unrealistic mothering ideals. Physical constraints on one’s parenting abilities, due to birth recovery, exacerbated postpartum guilt and shame. Other sources of guilt and shame included body dissatisfaction and making comparisons against other mothers and media depictions of motherhood. Participants were hesitant to confide in others about parenting challenges due to fears of judgement, which perpetuated the shame-concealment cycle. Future research should prioritise the development of interventions designed to target a harsh parenting inner critic, and the re-framing of cognitive biases, to nurture more realistic and self-compassionate beliefs about motherhood. For practice, current findings mirror previous calls for intimate partners to be actively included in routine appointments, to provide healthcare practitioners with specialist training in postpartum mental health, and to educate mothers on responsible social media use. Full article

Burnout is an emerging socio-labor phenomenon, where this problem is particularly relevant in airline cabin crew members, who face important psychosocial demands and difficult working conditions. This study aimed to analyze job satisfaction and its relationship with burnout and its consequences (family–work conflict (FWC), work–family conflict (WFC), and psychosomatic disorders), through structural models. The sample consisted of 732 workers in the aeronautical sector (204 men/28% and 528 women/72%), aged between 19 and 53 years (M = 33.56, dt = 6.62). The hypotheses were tested using a path model. The selected hypothesized model [where work satisfaction is associated according to the relationships established burnout model showed an adequate fit of the data, including a mediating role of feelings of guilt in the relationship between burnout and FWC (where FWC was associated with WFC and psychosomatic disorders). The findings of this study provide further insight into the problematic experience and development of burnout in airline cabin crews, in turn providing new evidence on the bidirectional and reciprocal relationships of FWC. Full article

Guilt is a widely used emotional appeal in environmental sustainability and other advocacy messages. However, unintended negative effects such as psychological reactance, where individuals resist or reject the message, have been identified, and scholars have recently suggested strategies to mitigate those effects. Using an experimental design, the study examined the role of self-efficacy cues (lower vs. higher magnitude behavioral recommendations) in the message recommendation component of guilt appeals that are designed to elicit more guilt than shame. Adult-aged participants (N = 341) were exposed to messages that described the negative effects of climate change on wild animals. Results from a serial mediation test indicated that viewing guilt messages with lower (vs. higher) magnitude behavioral recommendation was associated with greater self-efficacy beliefs and less perceived threat to freedom, which predicted more anticipated guilt and, finally, greater intention to take pro-environmental actions. These findings contribute to the theoretical development and practical applications regarding how self-efficacy-enhancing content in guilt appeals can reduce defensive responses and foster a stronger commitment to sustainable practices. Full article

Background/Objectives: Burden Syndrome, also known as Caregiver Syndrome, particularly affects those who serve in the role of informal caregiver in the presence of family members with conditions. The ABCX dual model examines the impact on the caregiver of the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) on the family. This model considers the severity of the stressor (A), the additional demands of life stress (aA), the family’s internal resources (B), the family’s external resources (bB), the family’s assessment of the situation (C), coping strategies (cC), and outcome (X). The purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationships between resilience, guilt, and burden of care in caregivers of children with ASD. Methods: Various assessment instruments were used, including the “Caregiver Burden Inventory” to measure burden, the “Brief Resilience Scale” to assess resilience, the “Guilt Sensitivity Questionnaire” to examine guilt sensitivity, and the “DA.L.I.A.” to collect information on parent and child characteristics. A total of 80 parents/caregivers participated in the research, including 53 women (Age M = 41.72; SD = 7.8) and 27 men (Age M = 43.35; SD = 6.29). Results: The findings indicate that individuals’ resilience to stressful events correlates negatively with burden, a developmental subtype. However, guilt seems not to play a significant role in the overall perception of burden. In contrast, it was found that the use of informal supports is associated with higher levels of guilt and emotional burden, whereas the use of formal supports is correlated with higher emotional burden, but not higher perceptions of guilt. Conclusions: This study provides important information about the support needed by caregivers and suggests how to address emotional burdens to prevent burnout and support families with children with ASD. Full article

This paper addresses an under-explored area of sociologically oriented health research, namely, the mental health and physical activity (PA) experiences of new fathers. Drawing upon responses to an online qualitative survey from 32 fathers, aged 18 or over, and living in the UK, we show how the decline in these fathers’ overall PA was associated with poor mental health and the changing constraints that characterised their increasingly complex networks of interdependence. These constraints corresponded with shifts in fathers’ PA engagement from team sports towards individualised, flexible, and more recreationally oriented lifestyle activities like running and the gym. Fathers’ engagement in these activities appeared to exacerbate the complex feelings of guilt and isolation that they already encountered as new fathers. These experiences were simultaneously associated with feelings of shame associated with being insufficiently active and fearing judgement about their engagement in fathering responsibilities. The paper has important policy implications, highlighting the need for tailored support for new fathers in the perinatal period, and implications for practice, suggesting that co-produced community-based PA programmes are potentially effective settings for engaging new fathers in PA and promoting their mental health. Full article

This study explored the integration of guilt and shame experiences into the self-concept, focusing on how perceived future opportunities affect this process. The participants in Study 1 (N = 201) and Study 2 (N = 221) recalled experiences that elicited either guilt or shame and that they believed could occur again in the future (i.e., repeatable) or could not (i.e., non-repeatable). The results showed that when the participants viewed an event as repeatable, suggesting that future opportunities for change were possible, they were more likely to accept and integrate the experiences associated with guilt than with shame. This difference disappeared when the target event was non-repeatable, thereby providing no future opportunities for change. Study 2 further demonstrated the moderating role of future coping confidence in the relationship between the interaction effect of emotion type and event repeatability on self-integration. These findings underscore the different roles of guilt and shame in identity development and intrapersonal learning. Full article

(1) Background: Stress is defined as a psychological sensation related to a change in both human physiology and behavior in response to a threat or challenge. As the prevalence of stress is increasing globally, nurses represent a risk group for exposure to stress-related psychological alterations. The aim of this study was to explore how clinical nurses in Lithuania cope with the perceived chronic stress in relation to additional emotional experiences following the death of a patient. (2) Methods: During a four-week period of October 2023, a total of 283 female nurses, aged between 20 and 70 years old, were enrolled in a single cross-sectional study. The PSS-10 (perceived stress scale) and the Brief-COPE (Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced) questionnaires were applied to assess the level of self-perceived stress and the use of coping styles along with the adequate strategies. Furthermore, the nurses’ emotions, evoked following patient death, were classified depending on their valence. Both the multiple linear and logistic regression statistical analyses were conducted to examine the associations between dependent and independent variables. (3) Results: The study identified that more than half of the nurses experienced patient death several times a month. A moderate-to-high level of the symptoms of mental chronic stress were suffered by 76% of caregivers. The psychological arousal following the death of a patient may induce the occurrence of emotional complexity that refers to competitive feelings, namely, helplessness (adjusted odd ratio (AOR) 1.7, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.1; 2.9), disappointment (AOR 1.9, 95% CI 1.1; 3.5), anxiety (AOR 1.9, 95% CI 1.2; 4.2), and guilt (OR_adj 4.7, 95% CI 1.4; 5.7), and can serve as a potential trigger for chronic stress development in clinical nurses. In terms of emotion-focused stress control (β 0.1, 95% CI −0.1; −0.2, R² = 0.12), Lithuanian nurses had low control of the perceived chronic stress. The use of problem-focused coping (β −0.2, 95% CI −0.3; −0.1, R² = 0.09) was also not addressed to an appropriate extent. The use of the avoidance coping style was associated with moderate–high levels of chronic stress perceived by nurses (β 0.5, 95% CI 0.4; 0.7, R² = 0.24). Furthermore, the avoidant coping strategy related to behavioral disengagement was significantly related to resilience to chronic stress in an adverse way. The cognitive process of self-blame was considered as a meaningful maladaptive behavior component for magnifying chronic stress in nurses. (4) Conclusions: The study highlights the need to implement the recommendations for boosting the nurses’ mental health. Hospitals should contribute to psychological assistance along with providing necessary training on stress-coping strategies for clinical nurses. In order to promote the sustainability of mental health through additional social support interventions, it would be useful to upgrade the clinical nurses’ daily routines with mindfulness-based trainings. Full article

We investigated the experiences of Brazilian gay men with HIV, focusing on the moment of diagnosis and its potential biopsychosocial impacts. This clinical–qualitative study involved 15 participants interviewed online and synchronously by a clinical psychologist in 2021. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the data. Interpretations were grounded in Minority Stress Theory. Four thematic axes emerged, including “Diagnostic Revelation”, “Social and Internalized Stigma”, “Biopsychosocial Effects of Living with HIV”, and “Gratitude for Treatment Advances and the Brazilian Health System”. The diagnosis was often experienced as traumatic, exacerbated by the absence of empathy and emotional support from healthcare providers. Participants commonly reported guilt, fear upon learning of their HIV status, social isolation, loneliness, lack of social support, and damage to affective-sexual relationships. Many also noted a decline in mental health, even those without HIV-related medical complications. Despite over 40 years since the HIV epidemic began, the prevalence of homophobia and serophobia among gay men remains widespread, including within the multidisciplinary teams of specialized services. This indicates that the stigma associated with homosexuality and HIV persists, despite significant biomedical progress in the diagnosis and treatment of the infection, particularly in Brazil. Full article

Background: Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are characterized by low empathy, guilt, and prosociality, putting children at risk for lifespan antisocial behavior. Elevated CU traits have been linked separately to difficulties with emotion understanding (i.e., identifying emotional states of others) and disrupted parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) functioning. However, no study has investigated how PNS functioning and emotion understanding are jointly related to CU traits. Method: We explored associations between CU traits, emotion understanding, and PNS functioning (indexed via respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) among children aged 7–10 years old (n = 55). We also tested whether deficits in emotion understanding differ across specific emotions (i.e., fear, pain, happiness, anger). Each child’s RSA was continuously recorded while they watched a film that included emotionally evocative social interactions. To assess emotion understanding, children identified emotions replayed in 1s animations of scenes from the film. Parents reported on child CU traits, conduct problems, and demographic information. Results: Higher CU traits were related to lower emotion understanding (β = −0.43, p = 0.03). PNS activity during the film moderated this association (β = −0.47, p < 0.001), such that CU traits were associated with lower emotion understanding among children with mean (B = −0.01, t = −2.46, p = 0.02) or high (i.e., 1 SD > M; B = −0.02, t = −3.00, p < 0.001) RSA levels during the film, but not among children with low RSA levels (i.e., 1 SD < M; B = 0.00, t = −0.53, p = 0.60). Moreover, we found that the observed moderated associations are driven by deficits in fear, specifically. Conclusions: The link between poorer emotion understanding, fear understanding in particular, and CU traits was attenuated for children who demonstrated patterns of PNS functioning consistent with attentional engagement while viewing the emotion stimuli. Full article

Logic-Based Therapy and Consultation (LBTC) identifies sets of irrational thinking or “cardinal fallacies” that promote self-defeating emotions, such as depression, anxiety, guilt, and anger. To overcome these fallacies, LBTC enlists philosophical ideas to attain virtue. The latter “guiding virtues” are ideals, never fully achievable, which are thus aspirational in character. Philosophical ideas are considered “uplifting” when they phenomenologically connect the client to such virtues. From this phenomenological perspective, this connection is experienced by the client as a “leading up” or transcendence with a sense of liberation from the suffering generated by the cardinal fallacy. Herein, lies an intensely spiritual experience. For clients who are religious and utilize religious philosophies to aspire to virtue, this experience is deeply religious. For those who embrace non-religious philosophies (those that are not God-centered), this liberating experience is nonetheless spiritual. It is typically described by clients as a sense of freedom or lightness; a deep peace of mind or serenity associated with the guiding virtue of all guiding virtues: metaphysical security. This article provides an analysis of the nature and conditions under which this deeply spiritual experience is attainable during the course of LBTC practice. Full article