ONLINE: Applying Compassion Focused Therapy to work with Shame

Cultivating the Compassionate Self to Work with the Shame Memories that Shape Who We Are: Applying Compassion Focused Therapy to work with Shame.

Timings and Registration‍

This workshop will be 7 hours towards your CPD, and you will receive a certificate of attendance shortly after the workshop via email. There will be no formal registration. You will be placed in a waiting room once you click on the link and the CMF Team will add you to the meeting.

This workshop is priced at a flat rate of £129.00. For those in difficult financial circumstances, who may struggle to afford this price, please contact hello@compassionatemind.co.uk

‍All timings are according to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT): 09:30 - 16:30

Level: Intermediate

About this Course

Shame is a powerful and universal human emotion, evolved to assist us to navigate our social relationships. However, shame can also be profoundly painful and have serious adverse effects on psychological functioning, mental health and social wellbeing. Shame memories have been found to become central to our sense of self-identity, and can have traumatic qualities that maintain and exacerbate threat system activation, especially in the social and relational aspects of our lives. Nevertheless, cultivating compassion, especially directing compassion to oneself and receiving compassion from others, have been found to buffer the negative impact of shame experiences. While shame and shame memories can be painful and difficult to approach, there is mounting evidence about the role that Compassion Focused Therapy can play in helping alleviate and prevent the suffering associated with shame. This workshop will provide a compassionate roadmap for working with shame and shame memories by developing, practicing and embodying the compassionate self, through a combination of knowledge sharing, discussion, and experiential exercises.

Key learning objectives

· Understand the concept of shame in light of the evolutionary biopsychosocial model

· Distinguish shame from guilt and humiliation

· Comprehend the impact of shame experiences/memories on psychological functioning, mental health and wellbeing

· Learn how to assess and explore shame and shame memories in clinical settings

· Learn how to use CFT imagery, embodiment and behavioral practices to cultivate the compassionate self and work with shame and shame memories

Recommended Reading

Books and Book chapters:

Gilbert, P. (2007). The evolution of shame as a marker for relationship security. In J. L. Tracy, R. W. Robins & J. P. Tangney (Eds.), The self-conscious emotions: Theory and research (pp. 283–309). New York, NY: Guilford.

Gilbert, P. (2009). The compassionate mind: A new approach to life’s challenges. London: Constable & Robinson.

Gilbert, P., & Andrews, B. (Eds.). (1998). Shame: Interpersonal behavior, psychopathology, and culture. Oxford University Press.

Gilbert, P. (2022). Shame, humiliation, guilt, and social status: The distress and harms of social disconnection. In P. Gilbert & G. Simos (Eds.), Compassion focused therapy: Clinical practice and applications (pp. 122-163). Routledge.

Matos, M., Steindl, S., Gilbert, P. & Pinto-Gouveia, J. (2020). Shame Memories That Shape Who We Are. In P. Gilbert & J. Kirby (Eds) Making an Impact on Mental Health. The applications of psychological research (pp. 97-126). Routledge.

Matos, M., & Steindl, S. (2022). Shame in the Context of Grief. In D. Harris & A. Ho (Eds) Compassion-Based Approaches in Death, Dying, and Grief. Series in Death, Dying, and Bereavement] (pp. 157-166). Routledge. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003204121-20

Papers:

Cunha, M., Matos, M., Faria, D., & Zagalo, S. (2012). Shame memories and psychopathology in adolescence: The mediator effect of shame. International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy, 12(2), 203-218. http://www.redalyc.org/pdf/560/56023336006.pdf

Ferreira, C., Matos, M., Pinto-Gouveia, J., & Duarte, C. (2014). Shame memories and eating psychopathology: The buffering effect of self-compassion. European Eating Disorders Review, 22(6), 487-494. doi: 10.1002/erv.2322.

Gilbert, P., & Procter, S. (2006). Compassionate mind training for people with high shame and self-criticism: Overview and pilot study of a group therapy approach. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 13, 353–379.

Gilbert, P. (2014). The origins and nature of compassion focused therapy. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 53, 6–41.

Matos, M., Duarte, J., & Pinto-Gouveia, J. (2017). The origins of fears of compassion: Shame and lack of safeness memories, fears of compassion and psychopathology. The Journal of Psychology, 151, 804–819. doi: 10.1080/00223980.2017.1393380.

Matos, M., Petrocchi, N. Irons, C., & Steindl, S. (2023). Never underestimate fears, blocks and resistances: The interplay between experiential practices, self-conscious emotions and the therapeutic relationship in Compassion Focused Therapy. Journal of Clinical Psychology [In Session issue on The interplay between experiential practices and the therapeutic relationship], 79(7), 1670-1685, https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.23474

Matos, M., Pinto-Gouveia, J., & Duarte, C. (2015). Constructing a self protected against shame: The importance of warmth and safeness memories and feelings on the association between shame memories and depression. International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy, 15 (3), 317-335. http://www.ijpsy.com/volumen15/num3/419.html

Matos, M., & Pinto-Gouveia, J. (2014). Shamed by a parent or by others: The role of attachment in shame memories relation to depression. International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy, 14 (2), 217-244. http://www.ijpsy.com/volumen14/num2/385/shamed-by-a-parent-or-by-others-the-role-EN.pdf

Matos, M., Pinto-Gouveia, J., & Duarte, C. (2013). Internalizing early memories of shame and lack of safeness and warmth: The mediating role of shame on depression. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 41 (4), 479-493. doi: 10.1017S1352465812001099.

Matos, M., Pinto-Gouveia, J., & Costa, V. (2013). Understanding the importance of attachment in shame traumatic memory relation to depression: The impact of emotion regulation processes. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 20, 149–165. doi: 10.1002/cpp.786.

Matos, M., Pinto-Gouveia, J., & Gilbert, P. (2013). The effect of shame and shame memories on paranoid ideation and social anxiety. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 20, 334-349. doi: 10.1002/cpp.1766.

Matos, M., Pinto-Gouveia, J., & Duarte, C. (2012). Above and beyond emotional valence: The unique contribution of the central and traumatic shame memories to psychopathology vulnerability. Memory, 20 (5), 461-477. doi: 10.1080/09658211.2012.680962.

Matos, M., & Pinto-Gouveia, J. (2010). Shame as a traumatic memory. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 17(4), 299–312. doi: 10.1002/cpp.659.

Matos, M. & Steindl, S. (2020). “You are already all you need to be”: A case illustration of Compassion Focused Therapy for shame and perfectionism. Journal of Clinical Psychology [In Session issue on the Treatment of Perfectionism], 76 (11), 2079-2096. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.23055

Petrocchi, N., Ottaviani, C., Cheli, S., Matos, M., Baldi, B., Basran, J., & Gilbert, P. (2023). The impact of Compassion Focused Therapy on positive and negative mental health outcomes: Results of a series of meta-analyses. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/cps0000193

Pinto-Gouveia, J., & Matos, M. (2011). Can shame memories become a key to identity? The centrality of shame memories predicts psychopathology. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 25(2), 281–290. doi: 10.1002/acp.1689.

Pinto-Gouveia, J., Matos, M., Castilho, P., & Xavier, A. (2014). Differences between Depression and Paranoia: The role of emotional memories, shame and subordination. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 21, 49-61. doi: 10.1002/cpp.1818.

Steindl, S. R., Matos, M., & Creed, A. K. (2018). Early shame and safeness memories, and later depressive symptoms and safe affect: The mediating role of self-compassion. Current Psychology. doi: 10.1007/s12144-018-9990-8.

Workshop Leader

Dr Marcela Matos is a Clinical Psychologist and Auxiliary Researcher at the Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive and Behavioral Intervention (CINEICC), University of Coimbra, Portugal, and an Honorary Associate Professor at the School of Psychology, the University of Queensland, Australia. For 20 years, Dr. Matos’ research and clinical interests relate to evolutionary clinical psychology, compassion focused therapy, contextual behavioral therapies and contemplative approaches. She has extensively researched compassion, shame experiences and memories, their traumatic qualities and centrality to personal identity, and their association to mental health difficulties. Currently, her main research focus is on implementing and evaluating the efficacy of compassion focused group interventions in promoting mental and physical well-being in several populations, and investigating their impact on biophysiological markers and epigenetic mechanisms, and has been the lead on a global research project exploring the protective role of compassion during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Matos has published over 90 international peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on the topics of compassion, shame, self-criticism, emotional regulation, psychopathology and well-being, covering a diverse host of clinical and non-clinical populations. She has authored over 190 scientific communications presented at international scientific conferences. She is an affiliate member of the Compassionate Mind Foundation, founding and executive board member of the Global Compassion Coalition and chair of its the Science Committee, and member of the Portuguese Association for Mindfulness.