Dissertation

Relationships of shame, anger, and Gestalt resistances

Schwartz, Reva

1999

Overview

This study is the first empirical study to investigate the patterns among shame, anger, and the Gestalt resistances. Shame is a subject that has long been in the background, but has gained attention in the last 30 years. When shame is not acknowledged or considered, anger often arises. This can lead to a variety of problems and, in some cases, pathology and violence. Shame is defended against or resisted in a variety of ways, as exhibited by the Gestalt resistances. Participants in this study included 623 subjects over the age of 18. The Gestalt Contact Styles Questionnaire Revised-2 was used to measure the resistance processes. The Internalized Shame Scale was used to measure shame, and the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory was used to measure trait anger and anger expression. Results revealed the higher the shame group, the greater the scores for the resistances in general, and especially for retroflection and deflection. Elevations for the high shame group were also found for egotism, projection, and introjection. However, for desensitization, the higher the shame group, the lower the resistance. Furthermore, males exhibited high projection, egotism, and especially desensitization scores relative to other resistances when compared with females. For trait anger, the higher the shame group, the higher the level of both types of trait anger. A pattern emerged such that the high shame group was particularly high on angry temperament whereas the low shame group was markedly low, actually showing a decrease on angry reaction. The higher the shame group, the higher the level of experienced anger, with scores more spread out on suppressed anger expressed inward but more clustered on anger expressed outward. However, controlled anger (prevention of the experience and expression of anger) was conversely lower as shame levels increased, with the high shame group being markedly lower. In addition, males showed markedly higher anger expressed inward than did females, while showing a dramatic decrease in anger controlled. When each Gestalt resistance scale was examined separately in relation to trait and expressed anger groups to see the interaction of anger and shame on each resistance, it was verified that, overall, high shame is consistent with high resistances and, likewise, high anger is also consistent with high resistances. However, there were no interactions between shame and either trait or expressed anger. Applications of these findings would be relevant to mental health professionals as well as parents. Often, when anger and resistances are exhibited, an underlying component of shame may be present. This is especially true for the resistances of retroflection and deflection, and is opposite for desensitization. If shame is present, suppressed anger would be high, whereas the control of anger would be quite low.

• Publisher: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Subject: Clinical psychology / Families & family life / Individual & family studies / Personal relationships / Personality / Personality psychology / Psychotherapy / Sociology
• ISBN: 9780599411432, 0599411430