Blog
Clinical tools, research updates and reflections on shame, self-criticism and compassion — 113 posts since 2014.
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June 2017 Tool of the Month: Four Emotion Systems Handout
Four Emotion Systems: Flexibility is key! In our work with clients who tend to be highly self-critical and shame-prone, one of the first things we seek to do is to create a deblaming…
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Research Spotlight: Shame, Guilt and Drinking Problems
In this month’s post, we’ll turn the spotlight onto a paper that recently came out of our own center. A special thanks to all of the clients who, by choosing to come to our center, support…
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Shame in Context: Considering Culture in the Approach to Shame
Many researchers in English-speaking countries describe shame as uniformly maladaptive, and guilt as uniformly adaptive. In fact, a quick Google search of the terms pops up headings such…
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April 2017 Tool of the Month: Review of the book “Tribe – On Homecoming and Belonging”
We humans are an incredibly social species. One of the reasons why shame is such a powerful and painful emotion for us is that it is intimately tied to our sense of belonging, and in…
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March 2017 Research Roundup: Got Gratitude? It does a body (and mind and relationship) good!
We all know how great if feels when someone expresses appreciation to us. But expressing gratitude isn’t only beneficial for the receiver; it does wonders for the giver, as well. The…
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February 2017 Research Roundup: Compassion, Conflict, and Connection
When we think about health, some perennial pieces of wisdom likely come to mind: don’t smoke, don’t drink too much alcohol, eat more vegetables, exercise. Yet, there are a few important…
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Lovingkindness for everyone in the room
Those of us who struggle with shame and self-criticism often believe that we are alone and different from others. We may also be more likely to be lonely and to have fewer close…
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February 2017 Tool of the Month: Lovingkindness Meditation Tracking Worksheet
It’s apparent from the data that practicing lovingkindness meditation (LKM) has a host of benefits (see our prior blog post if you would like more evidence). However, just knowing that…
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January 2017 Research Roundup: All About Altruism
Unfortunately, there often seems to be a wide chasm between what happens in the research lab and what happens on the front lines of clinical work. On the one hand, researchers need to…
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Holding and Being Held with personalized LKM phrase
Very often the best innovations are born out of collaborations. That is the case with the exercise we want to share with you in this post, which we call “Holding and Being Held.” This…