The Relationship Between Childhood Trauma and Shame: The Mediating Role of Dissociation

• Gianluca Santoro ^[1] ; Lucia Sideli ^[2] ; Alessandro Musetti ^[1] ; Adriano Schimmenti ^[3]
  1. [1] University of Parma

     University of Parma

     Parma, Italia

     
  2. [2] Libera Università Maria SS. Assunta

     Libera Università Maria SS. Assunta

     Roma Capitale, Italia

     
  3. [3] Università degli Studi di Enna Kore

     Università degli Studi di Enna Kore

     Enna, Italia

     

  Mostrar afiliaciones +
• Localización: EJIHPE: European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, ISSN 2174-8144, ISSN-e 2254-9625, Vol. 15, Nº. 8, 2025, págs. 151-151
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.3390/ejihpe15080151
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen

  • Previous research has found significant associations among childhood trauma, dissociation, and shame. Furthermore, the clinical literature suggests that dissociation may foster feelings of shame in individuals who were exposed to childhood trauma. The current study aimed to test the potential mediating effect of dissociation on the association between childhood trauma and shame. The study sample consisted of 763 adults (479 females, 62.8%) from the general Italian population, aged between 18 and 65 years (M = 31.31, SD = 13.29). Self-report instruments assessing childhood trauma, dissociation, and shame were administered to participants via an anonymous online survey. Structural equation modeling showed that childhood trauma was associated with increased levels of both dissociation and shame. Moreover, dissociation partially mediated the predictive association between childhood trauma and shame. These findings suggest that dissociation might heighten the tendency to unconsciously reenact self-devaluation and self-blame in individuals exposed to childhood trauma, increasing feelings of shame.

• Referencias bibliográficas
  • American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). American Psychiatric...
  • Andrews, B., Qian, M., & Valentine, J. D. (2002). Predicting depressive symptoms with a new measure of shame: The Experience of Shame...
  • Archuleta, W. P., Kaminski, P. L., & Ross, N. D. (2024). The roles of shame and poor self-concept in explaining low social connection...
  • Badenes-Ribera, L., Georgieva, S., Tomás, J. M., & Navarro-Pérez, J. J. (2024). Internal consistency and test-retest reliability: A reliability...
  • Benau, K. (2017). Shame, attachment, and psychotherapy: Phenomenology, neurophysiology, relational trauma, and harbingers of healing. Attachment:...
  • Bernstein, D. P., Stein, J. A., Newcomb, M. D., Walker, E., Pogge, D., Ahluvalia, T., Stokes, J., Handelsman, L., Medrano, M., Desmond, D.,...
  • Bowlby, J. (1980). Attachment and loss. Vol. 3: Loss: Sadness and depression. Basic Books.
  • Bowlby, J. (1988). A secure base: Parent-child attachment and healthy human development. Basic Books.
  • Bromberg, P. M. (1998). Standing in the spaces: Essays on clinical process, trauma, and dissociation. Analytic Press.
  • Bromberg, P. M. (2011). The shadow of the tsunami and the growth of the relational mind. Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.
  • Carlson, E. B., Waelde, L. C., Palmieri, P. A., Macia, K. S., Smith, S. R., & McDade-Montez, E. (2018). Development and validation of...
  • Chefetz, R. (2022). Attackments: Subjugation, shame, and the attachment to painful affects and objects. In O. B. Epstein (Ed.), Shame matters:...
  • Chefetz, R. A. (2015). Intensive psychotherapy for persistent dissociative processes: The fear of feeling real. W. W. Norton & Company.
  • Costanzo, A., Santoro, G., & Schimmenti, A. (2023). Self-medication, traumatic reenactments, and dissociation: A psychoanalytic perspective...
  • Daniels, J. K., Timmerman, M. E., Spitzer, C., & Lampe, A. (2024). Differential constellations of dissociative symptoms and their association...
  • DeCou, C. R., Lynch, S. M., Weber, S., Richner, D., Mozafari, A., Huggins, H., & Perschon, B. (2023). On the association between trauma-related...
  • Dorahy, M. J., & Clearwater, K. (2012). Shame and guilt in men exposed to childhood sexual abuse: A qualitative investigation. Journal...
  • Dorahy, M. J., McKendry, H., Scott, A., Yogeeswaran, K., Martens, A., & Hanna, D. (2017). Reactive dissociative experiences in response...
  • Dorahy, M. J., McKeogh, K., & Yogeeswaran, K. (2025). The impact of relationship context on dissociation-induced shame using vignette...
  • Dorahy, M. J., Schultz, A., Wooller, M., Clearwater, K., & Yogeeswaran, K. (2021). Acute shame in response to dissociative detachment:...
  • Espirito Santo, H., & Luís Pio-Abreu, J. (2008). Demographic and mental health factors associated with pathological dissociation in a...
  • Farina, B., Liotti, M., & Imperatori, C. (2019). The role of attachment trauma and disintegrative pathogenic processes in the traumatic-dissociative...
  • Flach, V. I., & Cariola, L. A. (2025). Developmental trauma and shame-proneness: A systematic review. Trends in Psychology.
  • Georgieva, S., Tomas, J. M., & Navarro-Pérez, J. J. (2021). Systematic review and critical appraisal of Childhood Trauma Questionnaire—Short...
  • Haferkamp, L., Bebermeier, A., Möllering, A., & Neuner, F. (2015). Dissociation is associated with emotional maltreatment in a sample...
  • Herman, J. L. (2012). Shattered shame states and their repair. In J. Yellin, & K. White (Eds.), Shattered states: Disorganised attachment...
  • Ho, G. W. K., Hyland, P., Karatzias, T., Bressington, D., & Shevlin, M. (2021). Traumatic life events as risk factors for psychosis and...
  • Hooper, D., Coughlan, J., & Mullen, M. (2008). Structural equation modelling: Guidelines for determining model fit. Electronic Journal...
  • Jo, Y., & Choi, H. (2023). Factor structure and clinical correlates of the Dissociative Symptoms Scale (DSS) Korean version among community...
  • Kate, M.-A., Jamieson, G., & Middleton, W. (2021). Childhood sexual, emotional, and physical abuse as predictors of dissociation in adulthood....
  • Kealy, D., Laverdière, O., Cox, D. W., & Hewitt, P. L. (2023). Childhood emotional neglect and depressive and anxiety symptoms among mental...
  • Keene, A. C., & Epps, J. (2016). Childhood physical abuse and aggression: Shame and narcissistic vulnerability. Child Abuse & Neglect,...
  • Kilborne, B. (1999). When trauma strikes the soul: Shame, splitting, and psychic pain. The American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 59(4), 385–402....
  • Kim, J., Talbot, N. L., & Cicchetti, D. (2009). Childhood abuse and current interpersonal conflict: The role of shame. Child Abuse &...
  • Kouri, N., D’Andrea, W., Brown, A. D., & Siegle, G. J. (2023). Shame-induced dissociation: An experimental study of experiential avoidance....
  • Lanius, R. A. (2015). Trauma-related dissociation and altered states of consciousness: A call for clinical, treatment, and neuroscience research....
  • Lehdonvirta, V., Oksanen, A., Räsänen, P., & Blank, G. (2021). Social media, web, and panel surveys: Using non-probability samples in...
  • Lewis, H. B. (1971). Shame and guilt in neurosis. Psychoanalytic Review, 58(3), 419–438.
  • Lewis, M. (1992). Shame: The exposed self. Free Press.
  • Maaranen, P., Tanskanen, A., Hintikka, J., Honkalampi, K., Haatainen, K., Koivumaa-Honkanen, H., & Viinamäki, H. (2008). The course of...
  • Main, M., & Hesse, E. (1990). Parents’ unresolved traumatic experiences are related to infant disorganized attachment status: Is frightened...
  • Marusak, H. A., Martin, K. R., Etkin, A., & Thomason, M. E. (2015). Childhood trauma exposure disrupts the automatic regulation of emotional...
  • McCoy, M. L., & Keen, S. M. (2022). Child abuse and neglect (3rd ed.). Routledge. 7
  • Miller, R. S., & Tangney, J. P. (1994). Differentiating embarrassment and shame. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 13(3), 273–287.
  • Mojallal, M., Simons, R. M., & Simons, J. S. (2021). Childhood maltreatment and adulthood proneness to shame and guilt: The mediating...
  • Nechita, D.-M., Bud, S., & David, D. (2021). Shame and eating disorders symptoms: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Eating Disorders,...
  • O’Loghlen, E., Galligan, R., & Grant, S. (2023). Childhood maltreatment, shame, psychological distress, and binge eating: Testing a serial...
  • Orth, U., Robins, R. W., & Soto, C. J. (2010). Tracking the trajectory of shame, guilt, and pride across the life span. Journal of Personality...
  • Platt, M. G., Luoma, J. B., & Freyd, J. J. (2017). Shame and dissociation in survivors of high and low betrayal trauma. Journal of Aggression,...
  • Prino, L. E., Longobardi, C., & Settanni, M. (2018). Young adult retrospective reports of adverse childhood experiences: Prevalence of...
  • Riazi, S. S., & Manouchehri, M. (2024). The mediating role of mentalization and integrative self-knowledge in the relationship between...
  • Ross, N. D., Kaminski, P. L., & Herrington, R. (2019). From childhood emotional maltreatment to depressive symptoms in adulthood: The...
  • Rosseel, Y. (2012). lavaan: An R Package for structural equation modeling. Journal of Statistical Software, 48(2), 1–36.
  • Rudy, J. A., McKernan, S., Kouri, N., & D’Andrea, W. (2022). A meta-analysis of the association between shame and dissociation. Journal...
  • Sacchi, C., Vieno, A., & Simonelli, A. (2018). Italian validation of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire—Short Form on a college group....
  • Santoro, G., Musetti, A., Costanzo, A., & Schimmenti, A. (2025). Self-discontinuity in behavioral addictions: A psychodynamic framework....
  • Schimmenti, A. (2012). Unveiling the hidden self: Developmental trauma and pathological shame. Psychodynamic Practice, 18(2), 195–211.
  • Schimmenti, A. (2022). The aggressor within: Attachment trauma, segregated systems, and the double face of shame. In O. B. Epstein (Ed.),...
  • Schimmenti, A. (2023). The relationship between attachment and dissociation: Theory, research, and clinical implications. In M. J. Dorahy,...
  • Schimmenti, A., & Caretti, V. (2016). Linking the overwhelming with the unbearable: Developmental trauma, dissociation, and the disconnected...
  • Schimmenti, A., Sideli, L., La Barbera, D., La Cascia, C., Waelde, L. C., & Carlson, E. B. (2020). Psychometric properties of the Dissociative...
  • Schmitz, M., Back, S. N., Seitz, K. I., Harbrecht, N. K., Streckert, L., Schulz, A., Herpertz, S. C., & Bertsch, K. (2023). The impact...
  • Schore, A. N. (1998). Early shame experiences and infant brain development. In P. Gilbert, & B. Andrews (Eds.), Shame: Interpersonal behavior,...
  • Shahar, B., Doron, G., & Szepsenwol, O. (2015). Childhood maltreatment, shame-proneness and self-criticism in social anxiety disorder:...
  • Simeon, D., & Putnam, F. (2022). Pathological dissociation in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R): Prevalence, morbidity,...
  • Stoltenborgh, M., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & Van IJzendoorn, M. H. (2013). The neglect of child neglect: A meta-analytic review of...
  • Swee, M. B., Hudson, C. C., & Heimberg, R. G. (2021). Examining the relationship between shame and social anxiety disorder: A systematic...
  • Talmon, A., & Ginzburg, K. (2017). Between childhood maltreatment and shame: The roles of self-objectification and disrupted body boundaries....
  • Tangney, J. P. (2001). Constructive and destructive aspects of shame and guilt. In A. C. Bohart, & D. J. Stipek (Eds.), Constructive &...
  • Van Der Kolk, B. A., Roth, S., Pelcovitz, D., Sunday, S., & Spinazzola, J. (2005). Disorders of extreme stress: The empirical foundation...
  • Velotti, P., Garofalo, C., Bottazzi, F., & Caretti, V. (2017). Faces of shame: Implications for self-esteem, emotion regulation, aggression,...
  • Viola, T. W., Salum, G. A., Kluwe-Schiavon, B., Sanvicente-Vieira, B., Levandowski, M. L., & Grassi-Oliveira, R. (2016). The influence...
  • Vizin, G., Urbán, R., & Unoka, Z. (2016). Shame, trauma, temperament and psychopathology: Construct validity of the Experience of Shame...
  • Vonderlin, R., Kleindienst, N., Alpers, G. W., Bohus, M., Lyssenko, L., & Schmahl, C. (2018). Dissociation in victims of childhood abuse...
  • Watts, J. R., Lazzareschi, N. R., Liu, Y., & O’Sullivan, D. (2023). Childhood psychological maltreatment, sense of self, and PTSD symptoms...
  • Zhang, H., Wang, X., Zhang, Q., Zhao, M., & Wang, Y. (2025). The association between child maltreatment and shame: A meta-analysis. Child...
  • Zhang, L., Wang, P., Liu, L., Wu, X., & Wang, W. (2023). Childhood maltreatment affects college students’ nonsuicidal self-injury: Dual...