6. Shame On You

04/26/22 • 23 min

The companion emotion to guilt is shame. They feel similar inside us, but come from two very different places. Guilt is feeling badly about what I have done. Shame is feeling badly about what somebody else has done to me. When we are abused in some way or neglected, we begin to view ourselves as bad, dirty and worthless. The cure for shame is exposure of what has happened and then feeling accepted.

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5. Things I Never Should Have Done

When we violate our values or moral standards we feel guilt and this is an emotion that really gnaws at us. Addicted persons have more guilt than the average, because the disease itself causes the loss of values and morals. Addicts use many techniques to try to avoid guilt such as: rationalization, blaming, minimizing, and using anger to control. The cure for guilt is confession and admitting what has been done that is wrong and then receiving forgiveness.

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7. It Ticks Me Off

Anger is a cover-up emotion that is often used in place of hurt or fear because it leaves us better defended. Addicted persons use various forms of anger to keep other people from confronting the obvious problem that addictive agents are causing. Family members of addicts quickly learn that it gets very unpleasant in the home when addictive behavior is mentioned.