N3

SHAME AS BARRIER TO SUCCESSFUL INTERVENTION IN HIGH RISK FAMILIES

Presenters: Wendy Wade

Abstract Category: Prevention  

Instruction Level: Beginner

Presentation: Click Here & Click Here

Description:      

Defenses against shame can undermine high-risk family intervention efforts. Recognize and begin to overcome those barriers.

Abstract:

One of the strongest underlying barriers to successful intervention in high-risk families is an underlying identification with shame and the defenses individuals develop against that shame.  Children who grow up in homes where the "interpersonal bridge" between primary caretakers and child develops serious breaks are children who hold a deep sense of shame that affects many aspects of their development and adult lives.  Those breaks can result from situations such as parental addiction, mental illness, and traumas, including witnessing domestic violence. Defenses are attempts to regain some sense of connection in a person's life.  Some examples of these defenses children in these families adopt can be: Addiction, depression, perfectionism, rage, roles that limit their participation in and choices in life, and co-dependency.  This  legacy of shame is so often not addressed, and these defenses passed on from generation to generation. The effects of shame can be difficult to recognize as shame since the behaviors developed against it can be so powerful and entrenched.

Recovery from the effects of shame is possible, and addressing the shame can open the high-risk family system to acceptance of interventions and prevention of further passing on of patterns of undesired behavior. This workshop presents two ways to work with identification with shame down to its roots.  Participants will be able to understand the extent of the pain underlying a behavior a client wants to stop, and what can allow healing to occur.  As parents recover from their own shame identification, they can be freed to parent in a new way, and children can grow up with less need to resort to defensive behavior including their own addictions, descent into depression, or acting-out behavior in rage.