Psychology Science Minute #415

What role do shame-based memories have in psychopathological thinking? We have self-critical thinking like, ‘I’m no good.’ ‘I’m a failure.’ ‘I can’t do this.’ ‘I’ll never be able to (get a job, girlfriend, enough money)’? Paranoid and suspicious thinking like “People are talking about me. They send me messages.” And, shame-based thinking like, “People will think I’m disgraceful. I’m flawed. I’ve dishonored my name.”

Portuguese psychologists wanted to determine the controlling role self-criticism and shame memories have in determining depressive symptoms and/or paranoid beliefs. Two hundred individuals completed self-reports to measure self-criticism, shame memories, depressive symptoms, and paranoid beliefs.

Results? Self-criticism was able to explain the observed relationship between shame memories and depressive symptoms. However, self-criticism did not similarly explain the association between shame memories and paranoid beliefs.

Understanding the role of self-criticism on depressive symptoms due to shameful...