Margaret Rustin, 'Shame in Childhood: Being Ashamed of Oneself, Feeling Shamed, and the Burden of the Shame of Others'

This paper draws on philosophical contributions to defining the nature of guilt and shame and explores the experience of shame in childhood and its links to parental shame. Clinical material is presented to describe the particular visceral quality of the mental pain shame inflicts and to delineate some defences against it. The distinction between normal developmental shame and its pathological variants is briefly discussed.