The role of existential shame in the healing endeavor.

A clinical case of a 35-yr-old male patient illustrates that the presence of therapeutic shame provides the sine qua non for a meaningful examination of the existential dilemmas of human existence by the therapeutic participants. It is argued that there is a crucial interrelationship between how the analyst uses shame and the patient's willingness to express and to work through despair. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)