Psychiatrist Dr Tanveer Ahmed looks at the history and contemporary rise of shame and its overlap with group identity and mental health. Dr Ahmed argues that the stigmatisation of shame is part of a wider tyranny of the positive. This stigmatisation of negative emotions limits human flourishing and contributes to the growth in disorders such as anxiety and self-harm, aspects of which are often grounded in unnamed and tamed shame.
A thoughtful and beautifully-researched exploration of shame, and the modern permutations of this ancient and uniquely human emotion.
