Voice of Shame

Robert G. Lee, Ph.D., is a psychotherapist in private practice in Cambridge and Newton, MA, specializing in research and treatment of shame issues in individuals, couples, and families.Gordon Wheeler, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Cambridge, MA, working with children, adults, and families. He writes and speaks widely on men's development and gender issues.

• Part I: Theory.Lee, Shame and the Gestalt Model. Wheeler, Self and Shame: A New Paradigm for Psychotherapy. Part II: Applications.Wheeler, Jones, Finding Our Sons: A Male-Male Gestalt. Stein, Lee, Chronic Illness and Shame: One Person's Story. Singer, Homosexuality and Shame: Clinical Meditations on the Cultural Violation of Self. Huckabay, Lesbian Identity and Context of Shame. Lee, The Waif and Mr. Hyde: One Couple's Struggle with Shame. Wheeler, Shame, Guilt, and Codependency: Dana's World. Fodor, A Woman and Her Body: The Cycles of Pride and Shame. Part III: Perspectives.Lichtenberg, Shame and the Making of a Social Class System. Jacobs, Shame in the Therapeutic Dialogue. Simon, Geib, When Therapists Cause Shame: Rupture and Repair at the Contact Boundary. Mathys, Absence and Shame: A Cross-Cultural Encounter. Yontef, Shame and Guilt in Gestalt Therapy: Theory and Practice. Wheeler, Epilogue.

"Outstanding...Lee and Wheeler have created a rich new landscape for Gestalt therapy by bringing together an impressive array of writers, all of whom weave new insights about shame into Gestalt theory. This book is a must for all psychotherapists."- Gershen Kaufman, Ph.D., Michigan State Univeristy, author of Shame: The Power of Caring"Lee and Wheeler have finally given the emotion of shame a full-throated voice in psychotherapy. Empirical evidence has now cumulated supporting the ubiquitous presence of shame as the primary negative emotion in almost all psychopathologies. But until this work, we have not had as clear a picture of how shame presents clinically and how we need to respond to it therapeutically. Rich and detailed case studies abound to illuminate the theoretical insights. Lee and Wheeler have now brought shame fully out of the psychotherapeutic closet."- David R. Cook, Ed.D., professor emeritus of marriage and family therapy, University of Wisconsin-Stout"With The Voice of Shame, the Gestalt model takes another big step toward fulfilling its promise as a truly relational approach - one that can locate the person in his or her social context without losing sight of individual dynamics and process. At the same time, the use of the Gestalt lens clarifies the crucial place of shame and related issues in therapeutic process, intimacy, and family dynamics. Clinicians of every school should welcome this valuable new addition to the literature of shame."- Sonia March Nevis, director of the Center for the Study of Intimate Systems, Gestalt Institute of Cleveland