Shame and shame reactions are two of the most delicate and difficult issues of psychotherapy and are among the most likely to defy our usual dynamic, systemic, and behavioral theories. In this groundbreaking new collection, The Voice of Shame, thirteen distinguished authors show how use of the Gestalt model of self and relationship can clarify the dynamics of shame and lead us to fresh approaches and methods in this challenging terrain. This model shows how shame issues become pivotal in therapeutic and other relationships and how healing shame is the key to transformational change.The contributors show how new perspectives on shame gained in no particular area transfer and generalize to other areas and settings. In so doing, they transform our fundamental understanding of psychotherapy itself. Grounded in the most recent research on the dynamics and experience of shame, this book is a practical guide for all psychotherapists, psychologists, clinicians, and others interested in self, psychotherapy, and relationship.This book contains powerful new insights for the therapist on a full-range of topics from intimacy in couples to fathering to politics to child development to gender issues to negative therapeutic reactions. Filled with anecdotes and case examples as well as practical strategies, The Voice of Shame will transform your ideas about the role of shame in relationships - and about the potential of the Gestalt model to clarify and contextualize other approaches.

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.

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