An investigation of shame and guilt in a depressed sample

A self-report measure of proneness to shame and guilt was administered to 8 6 patients with moderate to severe depression, with the prediction that the re would be a positive correlation of shame with severity of depression. Co ntrary to other, non-clinical studies, we found that guilt but not shame wa s associated with levels of depression. Shame-proneness demonstrated a uniq ue association with a stable attributional style for negative outcomes, glo bal negative self-evaluation, submissive behaviour and internalized anger. Contrary to predict-ion, no relationship was found between shame- or guilt- proneness and a reported history of childhood sexual abuse.