Premium
An investigation of shame and guilt in a depressed sample
Author(s) -
Alexander Barbara,
Brewin Chris R.,
Vearnals Simon,
Wolff Geoffrey,
Leff Julian
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
british journal of medical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.102
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 2044-8341
pISSN - 0007-1129
DOI - 10.1348/000711299160031
Subject(s) - shame , psychology , anger , depression (economics) , clinical psychology , association (psychology) , sexual abuse , developmental psychology , suicide prevention , poison control , psychotherapist , social psychology , medicine , economics , macroeconomics , environmental health
A self‐report measure of proneness to shame and guilt was administered to 86 patients with moderate to severe depression, with the prediction that there would be a positive correlation of shame with severity of depression. Contrary to other, non‐clinical studies, we found that guilt but not shame was associated with levels of depression. Shameproneness demonstrated a unique association with a stable attributional style for negative outcomes, global negative self‐evaluation, submissive behaviour and internalized anger. Contrary to prediction, no relationship was found between shame‐or guilt‐proneness and a reported history of childhood sexual abuse.