Shame Regulation Therapy for Families: A Systemic Mirroring Approach

This accessible guide introduces systemic mirroring, an innovative approach to understanding and managing the disruptive presence of shame in family therapy. Shame is analyzed in individual and interpersonal contexts, and in two basic problematic states―experiencing too much or too little shame―often found at the root of serious problems between children and their parents. The author offers potent conversation-based strategies for working with children, adolescents, and their families, and for working with parents to resolve their own shame issues so they can improve their relationships with their children. The author also illustrates how shame regulation can improve the bond between client and therapist and produce lasting effects as clients learn to disengage from shame.

 This practical resource:

• Offers an innovative approach to dealing with shame in therapy
• Integrates practical methods for use with children, adolescents, and parents
• Discusses how shame derails interpersonal communication
• Provides interventions for shame management and dealing with the state of shamelessness
• Shows how parents can regulate their own shame at the couple level
• Applies these methods to school settings

Shame Regulation Therapy for Families aides the work of professionals such as psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and school psychologists who work with children and their families on shame management.

Dr. Uri Weinblatt is a clinical psychologist and head of the Systemic Mirroring Family Therapy Institute in Israel. He is a renowned specialist in parent training and the treatment of children and adolescents with behavioral problems, and is frequently invited to give workshops and lectures in leading family therapy centers in Europe.

He is the author of many articles and book chapters relating to shame regulation and family therapy. His book "Die Naehe ist ganz Nah! Scham und Verletzungen in Beziehungen ueberwinden" (Intimacy is very close: Overcoming shame and hurt in relationships) was published in 2016 by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

He earned his PhD at Tel Aviv University. Between the years 2005-2011 he worked as a senior staff therapist in the Council for Relationships in Philadelphia and lecturer in the Couple and Family therapy M.A. Program at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.