The Role of Maladaptive Psychological Strategies in the Association between Shame and Psychological Quality of Life

Abstract

Shame experiences have been highly associated with the engagement in maladaptive strategies (such as experiential avoidance and cognitive fusion) to cope with unwanted thoughts and feelings. Furthermore, these maladaptive processes have been linked to different psychopathological conditions.

The current study aimed to test the mediational effect of two different emotional regulation processes, cognitive fusion (i.e., the entanglement with unwanted inner events) and experiential avoidance (i.e., the unwillingness to be in contact with these inner experiences and the tendency to avoid and control them), on the association between external shame and psychological quality of life.

Participants were 421 (131 males and 290 females), aged between 18 and 34 years old.

The tested path model explained 40% of the variance of psychological quality of life and showed excellent model fit indices. Results demonstrated that external shame presented a significant direct effect on psychological quality of life and, in turn, an indirect effect, through the mechanisms of cognitive fusion and experiential avoidance. In fact, these findings seem to suggest that higher levels of external shame are linked to a higher tendency to engage in cognitive fusion and to lower acceptance abilities, which appear to explain decreased levels of psychological quality of life.

The present findings seem to offer significant clinical implications, emphasizing the importance of targeting maladaptive emotion strategies through the development of acceptance and decentering abilities.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.