Child Physical and Sexual Abuse Among Chemically Dependent Individuals

This chapter examines the interrelationship between shame and problems with intimacy and sexuality. It posits the view that these problems are the manifestations primarily of difficulties in identification and differentiation in the developmental process and of the influence of culture and religion. The chapter examines chemical dependency practitioners are beginning to view shame as one of the underlying elements in addictive behaviors. There is a growing consensus that difficulties with sexuality and intimacy are associated with dependencies. Since shame initially occurs out of the interplay with another person, it is fundamentally an interpersonal problem. There has been some failure in relating to another and to the self. Kaufman refers to this process as the breaking of an “interpersonal bridge”. The shame that erupts is the outcome of the individual’s perceived or actual inability to form an intimate attachment in which his or her own needs, feelings, thoughts, beliefs, and values are accepted by the other.