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Updated: Dec 16, 2025

Detecting Behavioral Deficits in Rats After Traumatic Brain Injury
Published on: January 30, 2018
Shame, self-discrepancies, and adjustment after acquired brain injury
Rachel Hughes1, Pete Fleming2, Lauren Henshall3
1Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust, The Walker Street Centre , Hull, UK.
Objectives:
To explore the relationship between shame and self-discrepancies and the extent that these factors predict adjustment after an acquired brain injury (ABI).
Method:
62 participants with an ABI completed the following self-report qualitative questionnaires: the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Quality of Life after Brain Injury Scale, the Internalized Shame Scale, and the Head Injury Semantic Differential Scale - III. Data was analyzed using correlations, repeated ANOVA, and multiple regression models.
Results:
A significant self-discrepancy was found between the present self and the pre-injury self, with the present self-being rated more negatively. This self-discrepancy was found to be positively correlated to shame, and these two variables were found to predict adjustment (emotional distress and quality of life).
Conclusions:
Shame and self-discrepancies both appear to play a crucial role in adjustment following an ABI. However, the relationship between shame and self-discrepancies needs more consideration to understand how these variables may interact to predict adjustment.
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