Date of Award

2-19-2004

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Department

Graduate Department of Clinical Psychology

First Advisor

Nancy Thurston, Psy.D., Chair

Second Advisor

Kathleen A Gathercoal, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Mary F. Clark, Ed.D

Abstract

Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder that has been documented as far back as 1689 and is now recognized as the mental health issue with the highest mortality rate. Many research projects have attempted to pinpoint the emotional factors that drive this disorder. Shame is an emotion that has just begun to be recognized for its impact on psychopathology. Intuitively, it seems reasonable to suggest that shame could play an important role in AN, a disorder that is commonly associated with emotional shutdown and restriction. Currently, there is no research that addresses the potential impact of shame on the maintenance of AN. The goal of this study was to use the Thurston Cradock Test of Shame (TCT) to compare levels of internalized shame in adolescent girls who have a diagnosis of AN with levels of shame in a nonclinical group of adolescents. The original sample size was to be 15 non-clinical adolescent girls and 15 adolescent girls diagnosed with AN. Due to numerous difficulties accessing clinical participants, the study was changed from a quantitative project to a qualitative study. The second, qualitative study focused on analyzing the three clinical protocols for clinical themes. The results suggest that the eating disordered participants experienced reactions similar to shamed individuals when confronted with negative emotions.

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