An essential resource for the library of every pastor, chaplain, recovery counselor and facilitator, marriage and family counselor and school counselor. In addition, individuals struggling from toxic shame will find this a very practical, user-friendly guide out of the morass and into freedom and honor as a child of God. Toxic Shame exhibits itself in a wide array of fashions, get-ups and garbs. It loves darkness and thrives on secretiveness. As a result, it diminishes one's openness, transparency and humility while simultaneously feeding one's pride, fostering guardedness, secretiveness, and presumptiveness. It is these dark, secretive aspects of toxic shame that gives it power - power to entrap and imprison one in a dungeon of their own creation. Because it operates under the cloak of darkness, it evades discovery, identification and examination. Being well hidden within our subconscious, one must aggressively track it down by becoming familiar with its many alluring and distracting behavioral cover-ups. The etiology, or origin, of toxic shame is varied - some coming from inherited shame that is passed on from one generation to the next; some is acquired environmentally when we are shamed by others; some through our identification with a hero or model who are themselves shame-based; and last but not least, the shame caused by our own errant behaviors that have continued unchecked, long after we recognize their destructiveness and ignore the guilt thus induced. Whatever its etiology, shame once internalized becomes toxic, and commences to destroy one's self-worth, shattering one's self-image, or identity, and unraveling one's core reality. The good news is that the shackles of toxic shame can be broken, the dungeon opened, and the pathway to freedom and honor as a child of God a reality. In this book, the reader will discover this pathway to freedom, that is well marked by employing the familiar 12-Step model of recovery.

• Do you have low self-esteem? • When you are in a relationship, do you feel as though you are not enough? • Do you put up with bad behaviour? • Are you obsessed with self development? • Do you believe that you are unlovable? • Are you always self conscious? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you could be carrying toxic shame.Toxic Shame - Is Toxic Shame Defining Your Life? Looks into what can happen when someone is carry toxic shame. While someone might not be aware of their toxic shame, it can still end up defining their life. This book covers over twenty different ways in which toxic shame can negatively affect someone's life: from how they talk to themselves to their relationships, to if they feel they belong and to how they feel about themselves and many other areas.

This classic book, written 17 years ago but still selling more than 13,000 copies every year, has been completely updated and expanded by the author. "I used to drink," writes John Bradshaw,"to solve the problems caused by drinking. The more I drank to relieve my shame-based loneliness and hurt, the more I felt ashamed." Shame is the motivator behind our toxic behaviors: the compulsion, co-dependency, addiction and drive to superachieve that breaks down the family and destroys personal lives. This book has helped millions identify their personal shame, understand the underlying reasons for it, address these root causes and release themselves from the shame that binds them to their past failures.

First published in 2007 with the title: I thought it was just me: women reclaiming power and courage in a culture of shame.

Founder of the Institute for Staged Recovery in New York City and creator of "Authentic Process Therapy," Picucci is an addictions counselor who bases his methods primarily on personal experience. In this updated edition of his self-published Complete Recovery, Picucci describes a "Stage Two" recovery program for evolving beyond freedom from addictions to "holism," which encompasses joy, bliss, love, empowerment, creativity, respect for all life, and peace. Picucci makes an interesting distinction between recovery from addictions and childhood traumas" and "recovery of fulfillment, wisdom, serenity, and emotional, spiritual and sexual wholeness. Using a structure of 12 stations, which can be visited and revisited in any order as often as needed, he guides readers through six fundamental and six emergent modules of this process for healing the "spiritual-sexual split" and the "cultural pain... of oppressed minorities," and ultimately achieving the "shame-free presentation of self." Picucci says he offers "nothing less than a re-birthing process" through a combination of one-on-one psychotherapy, support groups and spirituality. His own life experiences as a gay man, once married, now HIV positive, surviving AIDS, cancer, a heart attack, triple-bypass surgery and drug and alcohol addictions give him a uniquely credible perspective on healing and wholeness. In his cogent, well-organized handbook, Picucci functions a bit like the gay shamans who had a special place in North American Indian tribes. His compassionate acceptance of diversity will inspire many readers to care to take the next step and seek the help they need.