Bush Georgia J, Luchner Andrew F
Department of Psychology, Rollins College, Florida.
Res Psychother. 2025 Mar 31;28(1). doi: 10.4081/ripppo.2025.824. Epub 2025 Mar 30.
Shame is a complex negative emotion and transdiagnostic feature of psychopathology in which one feels there is something inherently wrong with oneself due to a negative self-evaluation. However, there are self-reflective capacities, such as mentalized affectivity and self-reassurance, that assist us in managing the emotional and cognitive impact. Mentalized affectivity, a component of mentalization, is a complex form of emotion regulation that involves an interest and appreciation of the internal states of self and others through the lens of one's past experiences. Similarly, self-criticism and self-reassurance are both processes in which one reflects and evaluates the self through either judgment or compassion. However, when mentalized affectivity and self-evaluation are maladaptive, individuals are subject to increased negative emotions and psychological distress. This study investigates how mentalized affectivity, self-criticism, and self-reassurance predict perceptions of empathy from others when faced with recall of shame-based experiences. Participants (N=246; 54.5% male) completed measures of mentalized affectivity, self-criticism, self-reassurance, and perceptions of empathy from others based on autobiographical memories of shame. Multiple regression revealed expressing emotions and self-reassurance as significant predictors of perceptions of empathy from others, suggesting how a combination of these forms of self-reflection may protect against the negative impact of shame. Our findings support the use of both mentalization-based and compassion-focused treatment to restore mentalization capacities and self-reassurance to reduce the impact of memories of shame.
羞耻是一种复杂的负面情绪，也是精神病理学的跨诊断特征，在这种情绪中，个体因负面的自我评价而觉得自己内在存在某些问题。然而，存在一些自我反思能力，如心理化情感和自我安慰，有助于我们应对其带来的情绪和认知影响。心理化情感作为心理化的一个组成部分，是一种复杂的情绪调节形式，它通过个人过去的经历来理解和感受自我与他人的内在状态。同样，自我批评和自我安慰都是个体通过评判或同情来反思和评价自我的过程。然而，当心理化情感和自我评估出现适应不良时，个体就容易产生更多负面情绪和心理困扰。本研究调查了在回忆基于羞耻的经历时，心理化情感、自我批评和自我安慰如何预测他人的同理心感知。参与者（N = 246；54.5%为男性）基于羞耻的自传体记忆完成了心理化情感、自我批评、自我安慰以及他人同理心感知的测量。多元回归分析显示，表达情绪和自我安慰是他人同理心感知的显著预测因素，这表明这些自我反思形式的结合可能如何抵御羞耻的负面影响。我们的研究结果支持采用基于心理化和以同情为重点的治疗方法来恢复心理化能力和自我安慰，以减少羞耻记忆的影响。
