#415 - Self-Criticism & Symptoms
Psychology Science Minute #415
What role do shame-based memories have in psychopathological thinking? We have self-critical thinking like, 鈥業鈥檓 no good.鈥 鈥業鈥檓 a failure.鈥 鈥業 can鈥檛 do this.鈥 鈥業鈥檒l never be able to (get a job, girlfriend, enough money)鈥? Paranoid and suspicious thinking like 鈥淧eople are talking about me. They send me messages.鈥 And, shame-based thinking like, 鈥淧eople will think I鈥檓 disgraceful. I鈥檓 flawed. I鈥檝e dishonored my name.鈥
Portuguese psychologists wanted to determine the controlling role self-criticism and shame memories have in determining depressive symptoms and/or paranoid beliefs. Two hundred individuals completed self-reports to measure self-criticism, shame memories, depressive symptoms, and paranoid beliefs.
Results? Self-criticism was able to explain the observed relationship between shame memories and depressive symptoms. However, self-criticism did not similarly explain the association between shame memories and paranoid beliefs.
Understanding the role of self-criticism on depressive symptoms due to shameful...