The notion of guilt is central from the beginning of psychoanalysis. Shame, later explored and taken into account, now interests psychoanalysts in a fundamental way.
After having drawn up a descriptive approach, the authors set out to model the notion of the “work” of shame and guilt, in relation to traumatic contexts.
The authors shed light on the intersubjective perspective of these affects: both shame and guilt testify to suffering of et in intersubjectivity; their sources can be found in the link to the object. They describe the effects and destinies of these affects, as well as the stakes of the work they support, with regard to the link with others. Certain characteristics of the link are precisely clarified: incestuality, hatred, anality, grandiosity, tyranny.
These notions and processes are explored from specific clinical contexts: somatic impairment, disability, incest. The authors also question the role of these processes in artistic creation. Finally, they analyze the place of guilt and shame in the intimacy of the work of psychic care as well as in the daily life of the care teams.
• Shame, guilt and trauma. Albert Ciccone and Alain Ferrant, Ed. Dunod, coll. Psychismes, January 2023, 29 euros.
