Self-reproach and personal responsibility.
A confusion exists between the aims of psychotherapy of diminishing self-reproach, on the one hand, and increasing the experience of personal responsibility, on the other. In order to clarify this problem a distinction is made between moral responsibility, central to self-reproach, and psychological responsibility or agency. Self-reproach is shown to be inimical to the experience of psychological responsibility, with reference to psychotherapy of a case of severe obsessive self-reproach.
Shapiro
David
D
Graduate Faculty, New School University, 65 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10003, USA. ShapiroD@newschool.edu
D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D019052:Depression, Postpartum / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D004532:Ego; D005260:Female; D006167:Guilt; D006801:Humans; D011584:Psychology; D011613:Psychotherapy; D012941:Social Responsibility; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology