title: Losing trust in the world: Humiliation and its consequences.
abstract: The author identifies acts of humiliation as a specific and often traumatic way of exercising power, with a set of consistently occurring elements and predictable consequences, including a loss of the ability to trust others. It is argued that these consequences are serious and long-lasting. The article makes a distinction between 'shame' as a state of mind and 'humiliation' as an act perpetrated against a person or group. The interplay between humiliation and shame after a humiliating act is discussed. It is argued that the patient's recovery of the capacity to resume a relatively normal life is made more likely if the therapist acknowledges the specificity of humiliation, the impossibility of reversing a humiliating act and the importance of focussing on the consequences of humiliation.
authors.affiliation: Department of German, University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Phil
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Leask
keywords: abuse; humiliation; injustice; rage; revenge; shame; trauma