Shame being about who you are, as distinct from guilt, which is more about what you've done.
Sometimes there are no identifiable "voices", just the gnawing feelings of badness, of imperfection, of failure to live up to some internalized - and generally impossible - set of moral standards. There is usually no wiggle room; after all, these are matters of MORALITY, and so no room for self forgiveness, understanding, tolerance of one's flaws or mistakes, or acceptance. One must, typically, be punished in some form for one's transgressions, and people are incomprehensively creative in inventing ways to see that sentence is carried out, usually from within, without the need of external authority.
This can range from relatively mild self denigration to complete self denial in the form of severe dissociation or amnesia. Mostly we live in the mid zone, with addiction, neuroses of one kind or another, co-dependency, non-nurturing relationships, power struggles, varying degrees of physical, emotional and spiritual violence, both self imposed and imposed by others, self hatred,
malaise, anger, anxiety, depression and despair.
Oh, and let's not forget the inability to apply to oneself all of the consideration, understanding, tolerance and forgiveness that one can more readily and naturally extend to virtually anyone else. At this point the situation becomes slightly bizarre, if common.
To be continued......................
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