The Virtue of Depression in the Secret Life of Shame

A Group-Analytic Perspective

Bibliographic Data

ID14776311
AuthorsCharles Montgomery (0000-0002-6908-5992, Devon Partnership NHS Trust, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume39
Issue1
Pages73-85
Publication date2006-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGroup Analysis (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0533-3164 • E-ISSN: 1461-717X
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0533316406062087
OpenAlexW2058059245
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited11

This article examines the role that shame plays in inducing and maintaining depression; the author proposes that chronic depressed states serve a function of neutralizing the painful awareness of shame. The similarities and differences between shame and guilt are discussed. It is suggested that concealed shame produces a debilitated state of mind in which feelings of rage and revenge are kept in check and blanketed by self-directed anger – depression. In this view depression has both a protective function and is a form of communication. Vignettes from an analytic therapy group illustrate how these themes can be worked with such that group members are enabled to move towards developing a clearer sense of self

Anger · Depression (economics · Epistemology · Feeling · Function (biology · Perspective (graphical · Psychoanalysis · Psychotherapist · Rage (emotion · Shame · Virtue · Counseling, Therapy, and Family Dynamics · Emotions and Moral Behavior · Philosophy · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications · Social Psychology

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