Shame and Grace

“Patricia DeYoung has given us a brave and honest book, a work of psychoanalysis without jargon, a challenge to learn about and converse with our own chronic and acute shame. Her personal stories make this book hard to put down. It is a significant gift and deserves a wide and fearless readership.” Donna Orange, PhD, PsyD, author of Nourishing the Inner Life of Clinicians and Humanitarians and Psychoanalysis, History, and Radical Ethics: Learning to Hear “In this book, Patricia DeYoung, a psychotherapist and author who learned long ago that shame is the elephant in the room, explores the role of parental and cultural shaming in her childhood. She is honest about its potent effects yet merciful toward its purveyors, herself included. She understands that shaming can become a family custom, cascading down generations in ways that trap and injure both children and parents. Perhaps most importantly, DeYoung shows how we can light the exit from this ruinous cycle by being kind.” Martha Sweezy, author of Internal Family Systems Therapy for Shame and Guilt