Families that return for treatment time and again often have problems that seem unrelated--such as compulsive, addictive, or abusive behaviors--but that are linked by an underlying process of shame. Comparing the shame-bound family system with the respectful family system, Fossum and Mason outline the assumptions underlying their depth approach to family therapy and take the reader step by step through the stages of therapy. Case examples are used to illustrate the process.

"This book will be helpful to all practitioners of psychological services and to all persons who wish to understand their dilemnas better." —Virginia M. Satir Families that return for treatment time and again often have problems that seem unrelated—such as compulsive, addictive, or abusive behaviors—but that are linked by an underlying process of shame. Comparing the shame-bound family system with the respectful family system, Fossum and Mason outline the assumptions underlying their depth approach to family therapy and take the reader step by step through the stages of therapy. Case examples are used to illustrate the process.

"This book will be an asset to teachers and students in clinical social work, psychology and substance abuse counseling programs."--BOOK JACKET.

Chronic shame is painful, corrosive, and elusive. It resists self-help and undermines even intensive psychoanalysis. Patricia A. DeYoung’s cutting-edge book gives chronic shame the serious attention it deserves, integrating new brain science with an inclusive tradition of relational psychotherapy. She looks behind the myriad symptoms of shame to its relational essence. As DeYoung describes how chronic shame is wired into the brain and developed in personality, she clarifies complex concepts and makes them available for everyday therapy practice. Grounded in clinical experience and alive with case examples, Understanding and Treating Chronic Shame is highly readable and immediately helpful. Patricia A. DeYoung’s clear, engaging writing helps readers recognize the presence of shame in the therapy room, think through its origins and effects in their clients’ lives, and decide how best to work with those clients. Therapists will find that Understanding and Treating Chronic Shame enhances the scope of their practice and efficacy with this client group, which comprises a large part of most therapy practices. Challenging, enlightening, and nourishing, this book belongs in the library of every shame-aware therapist.

This volume reports on the growing body of knowledge on shame and guilt, integrating findings from the authors' original research program with other data emerging from social, clinical, personality, and developmental psychology. Evidence is presented to demonstrate that these universally experienced affective phenomena have significant implications for many aspects of human functioning, with particular relevance for interpersonal relationships. --From publisher's description.

A bestseller for over 20 years, I Don’t Want to Talk About It is a groundbreaking and hopeful guide to understanding and destigmatizing male depression, essential not only for men who may be suffering but for the people who love them. Twenty years of experience treating men and their families has convinced psychotherapist Terrence Real that depression is a silent epidemic in men—that men hide their condition from family, friends, and themselves to avoid the stigma of depression’s “un-manliness.” Problems that we think of as typically male—difficulty with intimacy, workaholism, alcoholism, abusive behavior, and rage—are really attempts to escape depression. And these escape attempts only hurt the people men love and pass their condition on to their children. This groundbreaking book is the “pathway out of darkness” that these men and their families seek. Real reveals how men can unearth their pain, heal themselves, restore relationships, and break the legacy of abuse. He mixes penetrating analysis with compelling tales of his patients and even his own experiences with depression as the son of a violent, depressed father and the father of two young sons.

Barbara Theodosiou and her family reveal the pain, loss, and connection that emerge from addiction, trauma, codependency, and recovery in this unique view into the heart of a national crisis. The ringing phone startles Barbara during another sleepless night. She knows it must be Daniel, her big-hearted, intelligent son who has spent years cycling through hospitals, jails, and treatment centers. Although Daniel’s childhood struggles started much earlier, he was sixteen when Barbara discovered he was horribly addicted to DXM, the drug found in many over-the-counter cough medicines. After picking up the pieces from one more of her son’s relapses, Barbara seeks support in the online refuge she created when she had nowhere else to turn: The Addict’s Mom. There, she can “Share Without Shame” with others who understand. These other mothers know that it can become normal to hope your son will be locked up so he isn’t sleeping on the street. These other moms understand how it feels to realize you have not just one addicted child but two--Barbara discovered her oldest son Peter’s addiction just six months after Daniel’s. And when that happens, sometimes all a mother can do is try to save herself. But this isn’t just a mother’s story. Without Shame encompasses Daniel’s own poetry and prose, Peter’s story of healing against all odds, their sister Nicole’s story of balancing compassion and independence, and other often unheard voices. This multifaceted story reveals what it truly means to describe addiction as a family disease.