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PubMed2000

The borrowed sense of guilt.

An enquiry into the aetiology and dynamics of the borrowed sense of guilt is attempted, using selected material from three adult analytic cases. The author describes the tendency for the borrowed sense of guilt to develop in children where there is an extremely narcissistic family member, usually a parent, with a marked tendency to externalize his or her own guilt. The child develops a massive denial of being so used and so little loved by the parent and is trained into accepting the externalized guilt, through long repetition of interactions with the narcissistic family member, in which a terror of abandonment acts as a primary motivator. As development progresses a further powerful dynamic develops that keeps the borrowed sense of guilt in place: it is used by the child as a buttress for his or her denial of the lack of love shown in the relationship. 'I must be the guilty one, and if I just change my behaviour the relationship should be fine', is what the child says to him- or herself.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

Sex differences in expected guilt reactions to hypothetical behaviors of sexual, hostile, and moral substance.

Differences between male and female guilt reactions to hypothetical guilt-inducing situations of a sexual, hostile, and moral nature were investigated. Two independent samples of Ss (56 men, 56 women; and 34 men, 62 women) reported the intensity of their anticipated guilt reactions to 60 hypothetical behavior situations presented in sentence-completion format through the use of scaled response alternatives. Across both samples there were specific behaviors, in which stable sex differences were evidenced, i.e., females' reactions were more intense for those behaviors reflecting sexual transgressions. However, males and females were highly similar in their reactions to hostile and moral guilt-provoking situations. Implications of these results for research on trait-guilt were discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Narcissism versus proneness to shame and guilt.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlations between the narcissistic personality trait, measured with the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, and proneness to shame and guilt, measured with the Shame-Guilt Proneness Scale. Participants were 165 students (83 men, 82 women), aged 19-30 years. Pearson product-moment correlations, with computations comparing NPI Total score with each of the Shame-Guilt Proneness Scale subscales, were negative for scores on narcissism and shame and for those on narcissism and guilt. These data are consistent with previous findings, which suggest that the "overt" type narcissist is immune to feelings of guilt and may be characterised by a negation of the experience of shame.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

The concept of guilt.

1. Guilt is an uncomfortable feeling resulting from the commission or contemplation of a specific act contrary to one's internalized standards of conduct; it requires reparative action for the harm done to another to alleviate the uncomfortable feeling (distress). 2. The terms guilt and shame often are used interchangeably, but psychologic theory and phenomenologic studies clearly indicate that these are distinctly different affective experiences. Shame arises from the self's negative evaluation of the self (an evaluation that may or may not have been instigated by actual public exposure); guilt arises from the self's negative evaluation of specific behaviors or transgressions. 3. The psychiatric nurse is in an excellent position to intervene effectively with clients who are struggling with the emotional effects of guilt, and the psychiatric nurse can be instrumental in breaking the lifelong cycle of dysfunctional guilt feelings.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1989

The role of unconscious guilt in psychopathology and psychotherapy.

Using a new psychoanalytic perspective, the author explains how irrational unconscious guilt originates, how it produces psychopathology, and how it is mastered in psychotherapy. According to this perspective, unconscious guilt is a product of repressed irrational beliefs derived from traumatic childhood experiences. The author emphasizes the role of guilt as a source of resistance and transference, and he explains patients' unconscious efforts to master problems with guilt through an ongoing process of testing the therapist. Therapeutic outcome significantly depends on the degree to which therapists pass patients' tests and accurately analyze patients' guilt-based resistances and transferences. The author briefly describes an empirical study based on these concepts.

Guilt↗
PubMed1997

The shadow of object love: reconstructing Freud's theory of preoedipal guilt.

The systematic terms of metapsychology expressed in Freud's theory of oedipal guilt have overshadowed his emergent ideas about preoedipal internal objects and preoedipal guilt. This article reconstructs the latent theory of preoedipal guilt in his notions of narcissism, fantasy, aggression, and ambivalence. Special attention is devoted to his discussions of the narcissistic function of creating fantasized objects through identificatory processes, in order to compensate for loss or disturbances in object relating. Although Freud put forward the notion of oedipal guilt as a derivative of secondary mental processes, he intuitively grasped that guilt emerges from the conflict-bound sphere of preoedipal relations. "A Child Is Being Beaten" is used as an illustration, as are clinical examples drawn from the author's practice.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Internal-external locus of control and guilt.

This study examined the relationship between internal-external locus of control and guilt. Ss were 65 male and 137 college undergraduates who completed the Rotter I-E scale and the Mosher Hostility and Morality-Conscience Guilt Scales. Results demonstrated that internals reported a higher degree of hostility guilt than externals. Also, females expressed greater hostility and morality-conscience guilt than males.

Conscience↗
PubMed1989

The relationship among guilt, dysphoria, anxiety and obsessions in a normal population.

Seventy-six college students reported intrusive thoughts and impulses on a checklist. These students also completed questionnaires assessing depression, trait anxiety and perceived guilt. Results indicated for this normal population that intrusive thoughts were more distressful, more difficult to dismiss and occur with a greater variety of content compared to intrusive impulses. Multiple regression analysis showed that guilt was the best predictor of intrusive thoughts and impulses. Self-reported depression and anxiety were not strong predictors with respect to nonclinical obsessions and impulses. Discussion focuses on the utility of assessing guilt with obsessional disorders, the lack of a relationship between self-report trait anxiety and nonclinical obsessions, and the need to examine the relationship between guilt and anxiety with clinically obsessional subjects.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

On the importance of distinguishing shame from guilt: relations to problematic alcohol and drug use.

Previous research has demonstrated that shame-proneness (the tendency to feel bad about the self) relates to a variety of life problems, whereas guilt-proneness (the tendency to feel bad about a specific behavior) is more likely to be adaptive. The current analyses sought to clarify the relations of shame-proneness and guilt-proneness to substance use problems in three samples with differing levels of alcohol and drug problem severity: college undergraduates (Study 1 N=235, Study 2 N=249) and jail inmates (Study 3 N=332). Across samples, shame-proneness was generally positively correlated with substance use problems, whereas guilt-proneness was inversely related (or unrelated) to substance use problems. Results suggest that shame and guilt should be considered separately in the prevention and treatment of substance misuse.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Brain activation associated with evaluative processes of guilt and embarrassment: an fMRI study.

We aimed to investigate the neural substrates associated with evaluative process of moral emotions. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined the similarities and differences between evaluative process of guilt and that of embarrassment at the neural basis level. Study of the neural basis of judgments of moral emotions might contribute to a better understanding of the amoral behavior observed in neurological and psychiatric disorders. Nineteen healthy volunteers were studied. The participants read sentences carrying neutral, guilty, or embarrassing contents during the scans. Both guilt and embarrassment conditions commonly activated the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), left posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS), and visual cortex. Compared to guilt condition, embarrassment condition produced greater activation in the right temporal cortex (anterior), bilateral hippocampus, and visual cortex. Most of these regions have been implicated in the neural substrate of social cognition or Theory of Mind (ToM). Our results support the idea that both are self-conscious emotions, which are social emotions requiring the ability to represent the mental states of others. At the same time, our functional fMRI data are in favor of the notion that evaluative process of embarrassment might be a more complex process than that of guilt.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Guilt, fear, submission, and empathy in depression.

BACKGROUND: This study compares self-focused motivations (fear of negative evaluation, social comparison, and fear of envy) and other-focused motivations (empathy and interpersonal guilt) in submissive behavior and depression. METHODS: The Beck Depression Inventory, Submissive Behavior Scale, Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale, Social Comparison Scale, Interpersonal Guilt Questionnaire, and Interpersonal Reactivity Inventory were administered to 50 patients hospitalized for depression and 52 students. RESULTS: Depressed patients were significantly higher in survivor guilt, omnipotent responsibility guilt, submissive behavior, fear of negative evaluation, fear of envy, and empathic distress, and lower in social comparison. LIMITATIONS: This research was limited in that it was a correlational study. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that altruistic concern about others may be an important factor in depression and submissive behavior. Evolutionary implications of these findings are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Atrocities exposure in Vietnam combat veterans with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder: relationship to combat exposure, symptom severity, guilt, and interpersonal violence.

Vietnam combat veterans (N = 151) with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) completed measures of atrocities exposure, combat exposure, PTSD symptom severity, guilt and interpersonal violence. PTSD symptom severity, guilt and interpersonal violence rates were similar to previously reported studies that examined treatment seeking combat veterans with PTSD. Controlling for combat exposure, endorsement of atrocities exposure was related to PTSD symptom severity, PTSD B (reexperiencing) symptoms, Global Guilt, Guilt Cognitions, and cognitive subscales of Hindsight-Bias/Responsibility and Wrongdoing. These results are discussed in the context of previous research conducted regarding atrocities exposure and PTSD.

Guilt↗
PubMed2002

Does guilt proneness predict acute and long-term distress in relatives of patients with schizophrenia?

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to improve our understanding of guilt proneness as predictor of acute and long-term stress responses in relatives of acutely admitted patients. METHOD: Forty-nine relatives in close contact with 36 patients suffering from schizophrenia DSM-III-R, completed Hostility Guilt (HG) and Guilt Conscience (GC) scales (Revised Mosher Guilt Inventory), and Levenson's Locus of Control Scale (LOC) at the patient's admission to hospital, and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) at the patient's admission and at 9 months after discharge. RESULTS: Acute distress (GHQ) was positively related to HG, but not when controlling for LOC. GC was positively associated with acute and long-term distress, GHQ-depression and coping-failure, and long-term GHQ-anxiety. When controlling for LOC, GC was still positively related to long-term distress. HG, GC and LOC explained 32% variance of GHQ at 9 months. CONCLUSION: GC seems to be an important predictor of long-term distress in relatives.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Proneness to shame, proneness to guilt, and psychopathology.

The links between shame and guilt and psychopathology were examined. In 2 studies, 245 and 234 undergraduates completed the Self-Conscious Affect and Attribution Inventory, the Symptom Checklist 90, the Beck Depression Inventory, the State-Trait Anxiety Scale, and the Attributional Style Questionnaire. Results failed to support Lewis's (1971) notion that shame and guilt are differentially related to unique symptom clusters. Shame-proneness was strongly related to psychological maladjustment in general. Guilt-proneness was only moderately related to psychopathology; correlations were ascribable entirely to the shared variance between shame and guilt. Although clearly related to a depressogenic attributional style, shame accounted for substantial variance in depression, above and beyond attributional style.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Masturbatory guilt and sexual responsiveness among post-college-age women: sexual satisfaction revisited.

Although masturbation has come to be viewed as an appropriate sexual outlet for women, it is the one form of sexual behavior that has been most harshly treated throughout the centuries by society, religion, and the field of medicine. Thus, despite the increased incidence of masturbation among adult women during the 1970s and 1980s, substantial evidence suggests that guilt feelings associated with the practice may interfere with physiological and psychological sexual satisfaction in general. The purposes of this study were to determine the degree of masturbatory guilt, if any, and its effects on the sexual responsiveness and sexual satisfaction of adult women. An anonymous questionnaire concerning self-perception of the female sexual response was administered to female, registered nurses in 15 states, yielding a sample of 868 respondents. The 671 respondents who were the focus of this investigation had engaged in masturbation and revealed their guilt status regarding the practice. Those women who reported guilt feelings associated with masturbation were more likely to have negative feelings toward the practice and less likely to indicate positive physiological and psychological reactions after engaging in self-stimulation. Further, they were less likely to report sexual adjustment, physiological sexual satisfaction, and psychological sexual satisfaction. Since masturbation has emerged as a potential sexual outlet and as a means to engage in personal body exploration for women, these findings have substantial implications for therapists, physicians, sexuality professionals, and researchers.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

"... As we forgive those who trespass against us...": theological reflections on sin and guilt in the hospital environment.

In general parlance the term sin has lost its existential meaning. Originally a Jewish-Christian term within a purely religious context, referring to a wrongdoing with regard to God, sin has slowly become reduced to guilt in the course of the secularization process. Guilt refers to a wrongdoing, especially with regard to fellow human beings. It also refers to errors of judgement with what can be tragic consequences. These errors can occur whenever human beings are called upon to act, including the hospital environment. A Christian hospital has to address the issue of how to deal not only with guilt-ridden misdemeanors, but also with wrongdoing unto God, which overshadows every instance of guilt-ridden human behavior. Here, as in every parish, the Church Service is the place to acknowledge sin, confess sin, and forgive sin, beyond the boundaries of the parish itself.

Bioethical Issues↗
PubMed1983

Guilt and conscience in major depressive disorders.

The authors propose definitions of guilt as a self-critical feeling state and of conscience as a set of standards, to permit independent assessment of their prevalence in a sample of 93 depressed, 29 schizophrenic, and 43 normal subjects. Patients with feelings of guilt tended to have a more severe conscience and lower self-esteem. While guilt is prominent in a moderate percentage of depressed patients, negative self-esteem may form one of the cornerstones for depressed patients of all types. The authors propose that the operational definition of psychoanalytic concepts such as guilt and conscience permits a valid and more rigorous test of clinical generalizations.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Further validation of the shame and guilt scales of the Harder Personal Feelings Questionnaire-2.

Previous research using the Harder Personal Feelings Questionnaire-2 has generally supported the validity of its subscales for the measurement of the traits of proneness to shame and guilt. This study extended the construct validity by investigating hypothesized relationships between scores on the questionnaire and several personality constructs not previously examined, including attachment style, the five personality factors assessed by the NEO-Five Factor Inventory, Sensation Seeking and Positive Affect (both from the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List-Revised). Shame and guilt scales were each expected to correlate inversely with secure attachment, Extraversion, Openness, Sensation Seeking (uninhibitidness), and Positive Affect, while they were predicted to correlate positively with Neuroticism from the NEO measure. Shame was expected to show stronger relationships than guilt with Extraversion, Openness, and Sensation Seeking. For the 41 college students results were mostly as predicted, even after shame and guilt scores were partialled for each other, thereby providing further evidence for the construct validity of the Personal Feelings Questionnaire-2 scales.

Adult↗