An Ecological Approach to Understanding Pervasive and Hidden Shame in Complex Trauma

Shame has been argued to be a core issue in complex trauma; however, few efforts have been put forth to systematically examine the conceptual and empirical evidence to support this claim. This review, using Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory, presents a preliminary map of findings that highlight the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of Mental Health Counseling Vol. 42; no. 2; pp. 155 - 169
Main Authors Zhu, Peitao, Lau, Jared, Navalta, Carryl P
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Alexandria American Mental Health Counselors Association 01.04.2020
Subjects
Coping
Counselor Training
Cultural Influences
Culture
Emotions
Health
Help Seeking
Holistic Approach
Interpersonal Relationship
Mental disorders
Mental health
Post traumatic stress disorder
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Psychopathology
Self Evaluation (Individuals)
Self sufficiency
Social interaction
Society
Trauma
United States > US
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Summary:Shame has been argued to be a core issue in complex trauma; however, few efforts have been put forth to systematically examine the conceptual and empirical evidence to support this claim. This review, using Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory, presents a preliminary map of findings that highlight the pervasive and hidden shame in the ecological subsystems of complex trauma survivors. A psycho-social-cultural perspective was utilized to highlight the manifestation and disguising of shame in various contexts. Our review accentuates the centrality of shame in complex trauma and offers several ways in which mental health counselors can explicitly and systemically address shame in their work with complex trauma survivors. Implications for counselor training and future research are also discussed.
ISSN:1040-2861
2163-5749
DOI:10.17744/mehc.42.2.05