Whoa! Can we blame the shame on the brain?!

Something that has been a huge part of healing for me since before I even knew I was unmasking autism was releasing shame and guilt... for all sorts of things. The way I think, move my body, live my life... all of it. And I know shame has a negative affect on mental health, but since I rarely stop there, I had to start searching for answers.

I haven't done a ton of reading yet, but the preliminary findings are a little wild.

Real quick, shame and guilt are distinct and actually activate distinct areas of the brain. Guilt refers to behavior whereas shame is internal. One thing that has come up SO MUCH during my time as an autistic creator is the amount of shame so many of us carry. Not just shame from the masks we've learned to craft and embody, but also that constant feeling of being watched - being perceived - even when we aren't.

Okay, so I did a search to see the impact of shame and guess what? The activation happens in the prefrontal cortex (that's not a shock) and amygdala. Not only that, I found a study about women with BPD (I know, I know... research is hard so you have to use what you can find), and the study shows that they reacted more strongly to shame than those without BPD... so basically those without already hyper-aroused limbic systems.

If there's a relationship between shame and the amygdala, and having a hyper-aroused amygdala has a greater impact of feelings of shame, then having a hyper-aroused amygdala from things like autism or trauma make you predisposed for shame. Like, the term shame spiral LITERALLY MAKES SENSE.

OMG... here are the couple of things I've looked at thus far:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00406-020-01132-z

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0086900

Anyway, I'll be reading through these in more detail and obviously incorporating into things moving forward. Add it to the spiderweb!!

Stay regulated,

Shauna