Guilt and shame and its relation to oxytocin in patients with depression and alcohol addiction
Abstract Backround Guilt and shame are important and universal social emotions that fundamentally shape the way people interact with each other. Mental illness such as depressive disorder (DD) or alcohol addiction (AA) is therefore often related to pronounced dysfunctional feelings of shame and guil...
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2025-04-01
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| Series: | BMC Psychiatry |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-025-06762-y |
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| author | Paraskevi Mavrogiorgou Patric Dalhoff Georg Juckel |
| author_facet | Paraskevi Mavrogiorgou Patric Dalhoff Georg Juckel |
| author_sort | Paraskevi Mavrogiorgou |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Backround Guilt and shame are important and universal social emotions that fundamentally shape the way people interact with each other. Mental illness such as depressive disorder (DD) or alcohol addiction (AA) is therefore often related to pronounced dysfunctional feelings of shame and guilt. Oxytocin has been suggested to play an important role in socially and morally associated emotions such as shame and guilt. Methods A total of 85 participants (41 women and 44 men) were clinically investigated, including shame and guilty proneness. To assess the proneness for guilt and shame, the IGQ, the SCV scale, TOSCA, and SHAME were used. Results Patients with DD showed a maladaptive guilt and shame profile, characterized by increased interpersonal feelings of guilt and increased proneness of shame. Patients with AA were characterized by the lowest reserve and antidelophilic attitude. Oxytocin values were lowest in the patients with AA compared to the two other groups, but not related to guilt and shame. Conclusion The proneness to maladaptive guilt and shame of mental disorders appears to be less dependent on specific disease aspects than on individual characteristics. Dimensions such as guilt and shame should be more implemented in psychotherapy. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4c594ef24eb84dbd984637a22b67e471 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1471-244X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Psychiatry |
| spelling | doaj-art-4c594ef24eb84dbd984637a22b67e4712025-08-20T01:54:19ZengBMCBMC Psychiatry1471-244X2025-04-0125111410.1186/s12888-025-06762-yGuilt and shame and its relation to oxytocin in patients with depression and alcohol addictionParaskevi Mavrogiorgou0Patric Dalhoff1Georg Juckel2Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, LWL-University Hospital of Ruhr-University BochumDepartment of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, LWL-University Hospital of Ruhr-University BochumDepartment of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, LWL-University Hospital of Ruhr-University BochumAbstract Backround Guilt and shame are important and universal social emotions that fundamentally shape the way people interact with each other. Mental illness such as depressive disorder (DD) or alcohol addiction (AA) is therefore often related to pronounced dysfunctional feelings of shame and guilt. Oxytocin has been suggested to play an important role in socially and morally associated emotions such as shame and guilt. Methods A total of 85 participants (41 women and 44 men) were clinically investigated, including shame and guilty proneness. To assess the proneness for guilt and shame, the IGQ, the SCV scale, TOSCA, and SHAME were used. Results Patients with DD showed a maladaptive guilt and shame profile, characterized by increased interpersonal feelings of guilt and increased proneness of shame. Patients with AA were characterized by the lowest reserve and antidelophilic attitude. Oxytocin values were lowest in the patients with AA compared to the two other groups, but not related to guilt and shame. Conclusion The proneness to maladaptive guilt and shame of mental disorders appears to be less dependent on specific disease aspects than on individual characteristics. Dimensions such as guilt and shame should be more implemented in psychotherapy.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-025-06762-yGuiltShameDepressionAalcohol dependenceOxytocin |
| spellingShingle | Paraskevi Mavrogiorgou Patric Dalhoff Georg Juckel Guilt and shame and its relation to oxytocin in patients with depression and alcohol addiction BMC Psychiatry Guilt Shame Depression Aalcohol dependence Oxytocin |
| title | Guilt and shame and its relation to oxytocin in patients with depression and alcohol addiction |
| title_full | Guilt and shame and its relation to oxytocin in patients with depression and alcohol addiction |
| title_fullStr | Guilt and shame and its relation to oxytocin in patients with depression and alcohol addiction |
| title_full_unstemmed | Guilt and shame and its relation to oxytocin in patients with depression and alcohol addiction |
| title_short | Guilt and shame and its relation to oxytocin in patients with depression and alcohol addiction |
| title_sort | guilt and shame and its relation to oxytocin in patients with depression and alcohol addiction |
| topic | Guilt Shame Depression Aalcohol dependence Oxytocin |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-025-06762-y |
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