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March 7, 2020

Alert 138: Epidemic Shame The Great Leveler

Shame is the great leveler, the emotion that knocks down the mighty as well as the rest of us. It is a biologically built-in red stop light that can prevent us from achieving our most creative and even loving goals. Shaming has become a mainstay of politics and a tool for ruining the identities of boys and girls before they achieve adulthood. It drives students on campuses to believe they cannot handle “triggers,” instead of standing up to them. We often feel too ashamed to even recognize that shame is holding us back in our personal relationships and our broader ambitions. This presentation will show you identify this emotion that lurks in all of us without exception. I describe the origins of shame in evolution and childhood, and how to triumph over it. 

See my presentation on Epidemic Shame

Peter R. Breggin