Denial – how we make shame unconscious 28 May 2024 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Shame , No Comments I have written ad nauseum about the unconscious shame that smothers our society. I haven’t written so much about the denial that makes and keeps it unconscious—precisely because I couldn’t see it clearly myself. So, […]
Is heavy tattooing a sign of shame? 30 November 2023 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Shame , No Comments A few decades ago, tattooing used to be a mark of an outsider, someone who flaunted social conventions. Prison inmates used tattooed tears to indicate how many times they’d been inside. The closest thing to […]
Disgrace – the deepest form of shame 1 November 2023 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Shame , No Comments For many years I’ve been excavating the unconscious—the place where, as Laura Knight-Jadczyk writes, “are found unfathomable depths of the rejected, the unacknowledged, the unrecognised, the unknown and undeveloped elements of our existence.” Through consistent […]
Peeing in the bushes – the shame of bodily functions 17 August 2023 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Shame , No Comments People go walking in nature for different reasons: exercise, fresh air, views, to search for flora and fauna. Yet I find that whenever I go walking with several women, one subject inevitably […]
Derision, social media, and shaming for entertainment 13 July 2023 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Shame , No Comments The advent of social media has provided a new forum for a very ancient human practice—derision, or shaming for entertainment. In the opening scene of Albert Hitchcock’s classic spy caper, The 39 Steps, the hero, […]
Measuring shame – Wilhelm Reich’s 1930s oscillograph experiments 8 July 2023 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Anxiety , History , Sexuality , Shame , No Comments Unconscious shame may seem like a vague, subjective concept. In the 1930s, Wilhelm Reich conducted experiments using an oscillograph showing that not only was shame—particularly sexual shame—measurable, but […]
Our ancestors tried to hide everything they were ashamed of 6 June 2023 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Generational trauma , Shame , No Comments One of the lessons I’ve learned about uncovering generational trauma is that our ancestors did everything they could, consciously and unconsciously, to hide what they were ashamed of. They […]
Premature Ejaculation – how shame short-circuits sex 28 February 2023 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Sexuality , Shame , No Comments I recently wrote about the impact of shame on Erectile Dysfunction. In this blog, we’re going to look at that other great bête noire of male sexuality, Premature Ejaculation (PE). Bugbears & black […]
Erectile Dysfunction – how shame prevents sex 27 February 2023 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Sexuality , Shame , No Comments In a blog titled The forbidden image of the penis I examined the fundamentally shameful nature of the penis. Here let us examine how that shame manifests in Erectile Dysfunction (ED). According to the British […]
Libido disappears when shame is absent 28 November 2022 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Sexuality , Shame , No Comments “My libido is strong. I have a high sex drive.” How often are such phrases used to justify inappropriate, disrespectful, and unhealthy sexual behaviour? How often do politicians, actors and other celebrities make the […]