“SHAME-BASED FAMILIES AND MULTIGENERATIONAL ILLNESS One of the devastating aspects of toxic shame is that it is multigenerational. The secret and hidden… — John Bradshaw Family Copy Share Image
Science has so far been unable to tell us how self-aware dogs are, much less whether they have anything like our conscious… — John Bradshaw Agree Copy Share Image
“High achievement is often the result of being driven by toxic shame. Feeling flawed and defective on the inside, I had to… — John Bradshaw Achievement Copy Share Image
“NEED SHAME BINDS When these needs are neglected, children are given the message that their needs are not important, and they lose… — John Bradshaw Child Copy Share Image
“This transformation involves three dynamics: 1. The identification with shame-based models and the carrying of their unexpressed shame. 2. The trauma of… — John Bradshaw Change Copy Share Image
The drivenness in any addiction is about the ruptured self, the belief that one is flawed as a person. The content of… — John Bradshaw Addiction Copy Share Image
“The feeling of shame has the same demonic potential to encompass our whole personality. Instead of the momentary feeling of being limited,… — John Bradshaw Guilt Copy Share Image
“Toxic shame results from the unexpected exposure of vulnerable aspects of a child’s self. This exposure takes place before the child has… — John Bradshaw Children Copy Share Image
“If our primary caregivers are shame-based, they will act shameless and pass their toxic shame onto us. There is no way to… — John Bradshaw Guilt Copy Share Image
“INTERCONNECTION OF IMAGERY Another way that internalization occurs is by internalizing images. These internal images can be of a shaming person, place… — John Bradshaw Guilt Copy Share Image
“The major problem in our lives is to decide and clarify our responsibilities. To truly be committed to a life of honesty,… — John Bradshaw Character Copy Share Image
“When children have shame-based parents, they identify with them. This is the first step in the child’s internalizing shame because the children… — John Bradshaw Abandonment Copy Share Image
“When parents are shame-based and needy, they are unable to take over the mirroring narcissistic function for the child. Furthermore, the fact… — John Bradshaw Adult children Copy Share Image
“Since the earliest period of our life was preverbal, everything depended on emotional interaction. Without someone to reflect our emotions, we had… — John Bradshaw Identity Copy Share Image
“WHEN GOD IS A DRUG—RELIGIOUS ADDICTION Mood alteration is an ingredient of compulsive/addictive behavior. Addiction has been described as “a pathological relationship… — John Bradshaw Addiction Copy Share Image
“Perhaps the greatest wound a shame-based person carries is the inability to be intimate in a relationship. This inability flows directly out… — John Bradshaw Guilt Copy Share Image
“The poisonous pedagogy justifies highly abusive methods for suppressing children’s vital spontaneity: physical beatings, lying, duplicity, manipulation, scare tactics, withdrawal of love,… — John Bradshaw Children Copy Share Image
“EMOTIONAL ABANDONMENT AND NARCISSISTIC DEPRIVATION Children need mirroring and echoing. These come from their primary caregiver’s eyes. Mirroring means that someone is… — John Bradshaw Children Copy Share Image
