The Relationship of Two Types of Shame with Meditation Experience

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ORIGINAL PAPER

The Relationship of Two Types of Shame with Meditation Experience Michael J. Proeve 1

# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020

Abstract Objectives In shame, the self is evaluated negatively by oneself, in measures of shame-proneness, or from the perceived perspective of others, as external shame. Both types of shame are associated with anxiety and depression. Mindfulness and self-compassion are associated with shame, and some intervention approaches for shame involve meditation. Aims of the study were to predict each type of shame from mindfulness and self-compassion and to investigate the relationship between meditation practice and each type of shame. Methods A correlational design was used to investigate relationships of external shame and shame-proneness with mindfulness, self-compassion, and meditation practice. Two participant samples, of undergraduate psychology students and participants recruited from mindfulness-related websites, completed an online survey. Results For both samples, facets of mindfulness predicted external shame and shame-proneness. Self-compassion, administered to the website sample only, also predicted external shame and shame-proneness. Frequency and duration of meditation sessions predicted shame-proneness, but not external shame, in both samples. Meditation did not predict mindfulness or self-compassion for the website sample, but frequency of sessions predicted the Nonjudging facet of mindfulness for the undergraduate sample. Conclusions Meditation may be protective against shame-proneness, but other intervention practices may be needed to protect against external shame. Keywords External shame . Shame-proneness . Meditation . Mindfulness . Self-compassion

In shame, the entire self is the central focus of negative evaluation and the self is judged as being inferior, undesirable or worthless in some way (Tangney and Dearing 2002). Shame is associated with various forms of psychopathology, including particularly depression (Gilbert et al. 1994; Allan et al. 1994; Kim et al. 2011) and anxiety (Gilbert 2000; Cândea and Szentagotai-Tăta 2018a). Furthermore, the strength of relationship between shame and forms of anxiety and depression varies between shame from one’s own perspective and from the perspective of others (Kim et al. 2011; Cândea and Szentagotai-Tăta, 2018). In recognition of the association of shame with psychopathology, researchers have examined predictors of decreased shame, and psychological interventions Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-020-01489-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Michael J. Proeve [email protected] 1

School of Psychology, The University of Adelaide, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia

or other practices which may decrease shame. Mindfulness and self-compassion are two constructs associated with lower shame. Both mindfulness (Woods and Proeve 2014) and selfcompassio