Shame Coping Strategies Amplify Certain Psychopathologies

Recent research has focused on the relationship between shame and psychopathology. It has been shown that shame predicts depressive and anxious symptoms, as well as substance abuse, non-suicidal self-injury, and aggression. However, it remains unclear, how one emotion can influence psychiatric symptoms of such a broad spectrum. It is assumed that as shame is such an intense and painful emotion, it needs to be coped with and that the coping-strategies influence the effect shame has on psychopathologies. The Compass of Shame Scale (CoSS) is a questionnaire measuring 4 shame coping-strategies (withdrawal, avoidance, attacking others, and attacking the self) and the ability to adapt to shame.

In this article, a German version of the CoSS (CoSS-d) is validated in a community sample and is used to predict psychopathology in a clinical and non-clinical sample.

The CoSS-d shows a 4-factorial structure, good reliability, and validity and is stable over time. The 4 poles of shame-coping show an impact on depressive symptoms, aggression, and self-injury.

The CoSS serves as a reliable and unique measurement of trait shame-coping. Shame-coping styles are associated with psychopathology.