Charles L. Whitfield Quote

Shame is the uncomfortable or painful feeling that we experience when we realize that a part of us is defective, bad, incomplete, rotten, phony, inadequate or a failure. In contrast to guilt, where we feel bad from doing something wrong, we feel shame from being something wrong or bad. Thus guilt seems to be correctable or forgivable, whereas there seems to be no way out of shame. Our Child Within or True Self feels the shame and can express it, in a healthy way, to safe and supportive people. Our false self, on the other hand, pretends not to have the shame, and would never tell anyone about it.

Charles L. Whitfield

Shame is the uncomfortable or painful feeling that we experience when we realize that a part of us is defective, bad, incomplete, rotten, phony, inadequate or a failure. In contrast to guilt, where we feel bad from doing something wrong, we feel shame from being something wrong or bad. Thus guilt seems to be correctable or forgivable, whereas there seems to be no way out of shame. Our Child Within or True Self feels the shame and can express it, in a healthy way, to safe and supportive people. Our false self, on the other hand, pretends not to have the shame, and would never tell anyone about it.

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About Charles L. Whitfield

Charles L. Whitfield is an American medical doctor in private practice specializing in assisting survivors of childhood trauma with their recovery, and with addictions including alcoholism and related disorders. He is certified by the American Society of Addiction Medicine, a founding member of the National Association for the Children of Alcoholics, and a member of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children.
Whitfield taught at Rutgers University and is a best-selling author known for his books on the topics of general childhood trauma, childhood sexual abuse, and addiction recovery, including Healing the Child Within and Memory and Abuse: Remembering and Healing the Effects of Trauma.
Whitfield is recognized for his sixty published articles and fifteen published books. Some of his works are: Healing the Child Within (1987), Memory and Abuse (1995), and The Truth About Mental Illness (2004).