Crissan's Mental Health Column: Breaking the patterns of shame

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JULY 2019

MEBO Mental Health Column

Author: Crissan Rosalia

MEBO Mental Health Director

Health psychologist, MSc.
c.rosalia@meboresearch.org
takecharge@re-charge.org

Breaking the patterns of shame

In her April Mental Health Column post, Moving from Denial, Anger and Depression to acceptance and self-acceptance, Crissan describes very real experiences sufferers go through and the impact it has on mental health. She then provides a very helpful explanation of how a sufferer can accomplish this process of healing.

In this, her July article, Breaking the patterns of shame, Crissan expounds in a very clear and easy to follow manner how shame and guilt can shape our lives in such an adverse manner,

Shame is an emotion that can become very heavy. People who feel ashamed might feel like they have broken moral and social laws, and like they have disappointed themselves and others. As a result, they create a negative self-image, they feel powerless, worthless and isolated. Even though shame can have a positive function in society, for sufferers of a malodor condition the continuous experience of shame can be very harmful. It becomes toxic and they may develop a shame-based identity. (Bradshaw, 2006).

Crissan explains just how deeply shame affects us,

Shame and guilt are often mixed and misunderstood. The simplest way to explain the difference is Shame- “I’m wrong, unworthy” and Guilt- “I did something wrong”. So the difference is in “being” and “doing”.

We are most grateful to Crissan for providing us with an action plan that is aimed at helping us grab a hold of this driving force and conquer it. In the process, we become more empowered in our lives as we move forward toward pursuing proper treatment for the odor/PATM condition.

As a community which is very heavily laden with so much shame, we owe so much to Crissan for having taken a significant amount of her time to prepare this paper for us. Her genuine concern for the well-being of each member of our community is so present in everything she steadfastly does for us. As a fellow TMAU sufferer, Crissan understands the depth of injury these conditions cause, and she has dedicated herself to help sufferers regain control of the mental health and their lives. For this, we thank you, Crissan from the bottom of our hearts.

María

María de la Torre
Founder and Executive Director

A Public Charity
maria.delatorre@meboresearch.com
www.meboresearch.org
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