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Women's Agency as Reason for Life Threats Among the Pashtuns in Pakistan: Narratives of Women Fleeing Honor Killing and Masculine Domination

Khan S, Thambiah S, Khoo YH

Violence Against Women, 2023 Mar;29(3-4):431-452.
PMID: 35938226 DOI: 10.1177/10778012221092468

This article uses the narratives of survivors of honor killing to show that women's agency is the reason for life threats because it undermines masculine domination. The findings show that life threats are made against women engaging in behaviors not aligned to cultural norms as perceived by male members of their family, to escape shame and gossip, and it is a manifestation of men losing control over women. These survivors of honor-based violence have undermined masculine domination by acting in unanticipated ways and by fleeing to a shelter home in the face of overwhelming cultural sanctions and structural inequalities.

Matched MeSH terms: Shame*
The fear of what goes up must come down: A case report of vulnerable narcissism

Chong SC, Ang JK, Hashim H

Asian J Psychiatr, 2020 Dec;54:102117.
PMID: 32623189 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102117

Pathological narcissism or narcissistic personality disorder is commonly characterized by an exaggerated sense of self-importance, condescending attitude, need for excessive admiration, diminished empathy and exploitativeness. In contrast to these overt attributes, there is a different presentation of pathological narcissism which is underrecognized, as one's preoccupation with hypervigilant, self-effacement and proneness to shame in the context of covert grandiose fantasies. This report illustrates a patient who had this subtype of vulnerable narcissism, and how his defence had been activated to preserve own self agency during a session with the doctor by revealing his paraphilic fantasy.

Matched MeSH terms: Shame
Fulltext Validation of the Malay Version of the Shame and Stigma Scale among Cancer Patients in Malaysia

Zhang Z, Azman N, Eyu HT, Nik Jaafar NR, Mohd Salleh Sahimi H, Mohamad Yunus MR, et al.

Int J Environ Res Public Health, 2022 Nov 01;19(21).
PMID: 36361144 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph192114266

The assessment of stigma among cancer patients is of the utmost importance as stigma may lead to various psychological sequelae and a lower quality of life. This study aimed to translate the English version of the Shame and Stigma Scale (SSS) into Malay and validate the Malay version of the SSS (SSS-M) to assess the degree of stigma among cancer patients in Malaysia. Initially, the concurrent translation and back translation of the SSS-M were performed, and the face and content validity were assessed. Subsequently, the SSS-M was administered to a total of 234 patients with mixed types of cancer to assess its reliability (internal consistency and test-retest reliability), construct validity (convergent and discriminant validity), and conduct an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The SSS-M total score registered a good internal consistency (a Cronbach's α of 0.881) and test-retest reliability (an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.876, p < 0.001). The EFA and CFA confirmed that the SSS-M consisted of 16 items in 3 domains. Its convergent and discriminant validity were achieved. Hence, the SSS-M demonstrated good psychometric properties and is available for use to assess stigma among cancer patients in Malaysia.

Matched MeSH terms: Shame
Perceived Shame and Stigma, and Other Psychosocial Predictors of Psychological Distress Among Cancer Patients in Malaysia

Eyu HT, Nik Jaafar NR, Leong Abdullah MFI, Salleh Salimi HM, Mohamad Yunus MR, Ismail F, et al.

Psychooncology, 2024 Dec;33(12):e70020.
PMID: 39663181 DOI: 10.1002/pon.70020

BACKGROUND: Patients' sociodemographic factors, clinical characteristics, distress factors, perceived shame and stigma may give rise to psychological distress in cancer patients that bring about further psychosocial impact.
AIMS: (1) to determine the degrees of shame and stigma towards cancer and psychological distress among cancer patients in Malaysia and (2) to examine the clinical and psychosocial predictors of psychological distress.
METHODS: This cross-sectional study recruited a total of 217 cancer patients. The participants were administered the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics questionnaires, the Malay version of the Shame and Stigma Scale (SSS-M) to assess for the degree of cancer shame and stigma, and the Malay version of the Distress Thermometer and Problem List to assess for presence of psychological distress and identify its sources.
RESULTS: There was a significant level of shame and stigma among cancer patients with the total mean SSS-M score of 12.08 (SD = 6.09). Anger (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 11.97, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.96-86.8, p = 0.001), loss of interest or enjoyment (AOR = 14.84, 95% CI = 2.93-75.20, p = 0.001), loneliness (AOR = 8.10, 95% CI = 1.13-58.02, p = 0.001), feeling of worthlessness or being a burden (AOR = 6.24, 95% CI = 1.32-29.59, p = 0.021), fear (AOR = 4.52, 95% CI = 1.79-11.43, p = 0.001), pain (AOR = 4.07, 95% CI = 1.53-10.82, p = 0.005), financial constraint (AOR = 2.95, 95% CI = 1.22-7.13, p = 0.016), and having regret (AOR = 1.89, 95% CI = 1.03-3.79, p = 0.039) increased the odds of developing psychological distress.
CONCLUSION: Treating clinicians should monitor for and provide psychosocial interventions for the biopsychosocial factors which may worsen psychological distress among cancer patients.

Matched MeSH terms: Shame*
Fulltext Fitness to practise for doctors and medical students with mental issues in Malaysia

Muhammad Darwiis Abdullah, Aiman Faiz Ahmad Fuad, Hafiz Ilmie Rahman, Mark Tan Kiak Min

Journal of Clinical and Health Sciences, 2019;4(1):22-29.
MyJurnal

Mental illness is expected to become the second biggest health problem affecting Malaysians by 2020. Doctors and medical students are more prone to mental illness compared to the general population. However, they are often reluctant to and resist seeking help because of stigma and a (strong) sense of shame. This can lead to detrimental consequences for themselves and their patients. That said, a doctor with a mental illness receiving appropriate treatment and who is in a stable condition may still be permitted to practise provided patient safety is not compromised. Determining this is a key responsibility of a healthcare regulator like the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC). Using some prominent cases to illustrate this point, this article reviews the MMC guideline on ‘Managing Impaired Registered Medical Practitioners’. In the absence of similar local guidelines for medical students, we also allude to the UK General Medical Council’s guideline on ‘Supporting Medical Students with Mental Health Conditions’. The article recommends that doctors and medical students with mental illness should seek help; outlines a number of factors to consider in deciding whether a doctor should continue practising; and explores alternative career paths in instances where they should not. The article concludes that appropriate support goes a long way for doctors and medical students who grapple with mental health issues in that there is hope and a way through a seemingly devastating situation.

Matched MeSH terms: Shame
Toward a memory perspective on eating psychopathology: An investigation of the types of childhood and adolescence memories that are associated with eating disorder symptoms

Philippe FL, Carbonneau N, Fortin A, Guilbault V, Bouizegarene N, Antunes JM, et al.

Appetite, 2024 Jul 01;198:107364.
PMID: 38642722 DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2024.107364

The cognitive mechanisms through which specific life events affect the development and maintenance of eating disorders (ED) have received limited attention in the scientific literature. The present research aims to address this gap by adopting a memory perspective to explore the type of life events associated with eating psychopathology and how these events are encoded and reconstructed as memories. Two studies (n = 208 and n = 193) were conducted to investigate the relationship between specific memories and eating disorder psychopathology. Study 1 focused on parent-related memories, while Study 2 examined childhood/adolescence memories. Results from both studies revealed that need thwarting and shame in memories were associated with eating disorder symptoms, but only when individuals drew symbolic connections between these memories and food or eating behavior. Moreover, need thwarting and shame in such memories were associated with other eating and body image outcomes, including uncontrolled eating and body esteem. These results also held after controlling for a host of known predictors of eating disorder psychopathology, such as BMI, perfectionism, or thin ideal internalization. Overall, the present findings suggest that the reprocessing of memories symbolically and idiosyncratically linked to food and eating behavior might be a fruitful clinical intervention.

Matched MeSH terms: Shame
The impact of body image on social cognition: Fear of negative evaluation mediates the relationship between body surveillance and interpersonal distance in women

Finn D, Cardini F, Aspell JE, Swami V, Todd J

Body Image, 2024 Dec;51:101777.
PMID: 39128330 DOI: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2024.101777

Interpersonal distance (IPD) refers to the distance naturally maintained during social interactions, while peripersonal space (PPS) refers to the immediate space surrounding the body, or the space within reaching distance. Previous research has preliminarily indicated that IPD is associated with body image disturbances. We sought to expand extant literature by exploring associations between aspects of positive and negative body image, IPD, and PPS. Seventy-five women from the United Kingdom aged 18-40 years completed measures of body appreciation, body image flexibility, body shame, body surveillance, and body dissatisfaction. IPD boundaries were estimated using a lab-based comfort-distance task, whereas PPS boundaries were estimated using an audio-tactile reaction-time task. Measures of body acceptance by others and fear of negative evaluation were completed as potential mediators. Overall, we identified positive associations between IPD, body surveillance, and fear of negative evaluation, with no statistically significant associations identified between the other indices. The association between active IPD and body surveillance was mediated by fear of negative evaluation, even after controlling for demographic factors. These findings suggest a nuanced relationship between IPD and body image-related factors, highlighting the role of social evaluation anxiety. Future investigations should use experimental designs to further understand these relationships and their implications.

Matched MeSH terms: Shame
A Compassionate Self Is a True Self? Self-Compassion Promotes Subjective Authenticity

Zhang JW, Chen S, Tomova Shakur TK, Bilgin B, Chai WJ, Ramis T, et al.

Pers Soc Psychol Bull, 2019 09;45(9):1323-1337.
PMID: 30658553 DOI: 10.1177/0146167218820914

Theory and research converge to suggest that authenticity predicts positive psychological adjustment. Given these benefits of authenticity, there is a surprising dearth of research on the factors that foster authenticity. Five studies help fill this gap by testing whether self-compassion promotes subjective authenticity. Study 1 found a positive association between trait self-compassion and authenticity. Study 2 demonstrated that on days when people felt more self-compassionate, they also felt more authentic. Study 3 discovered that people experimentally induced to be self-compassionate reported greater state authenticity relative to control participants. Studies 4 and 5 recruited samples from multiple cultures and used a cross-sectional and a longitudinal design, respectively, and found that self-compassion predicts greater authenticity through reduced fear of negative evaluation (Study 4) and heightened optimism (Study 5). Across studies, self-compassion's effects on authenticity could not be accounted for by self-esteem. Overall, the results suggest that self-compassion can help cultivate subjective authenticity.

Matched MeSH terms: Shame