Helen Block Lewis
In this chapter, Lewis devotes space to the discussion of the "humiliated fury" said to accompany shame. Lewis frames this progression as fury directed at the loss of love, and the accompanying loss of self-esteem, occurring in the Other's rejection of the Self. Lewis identifies humiliated fury and shame as communicative as well as emotional states. Further, she highlights that guilt is a logical state following humiliated fury.
The chapter goes on to look into depression theories, explaining the Bibring theory of depression, which envisions depression as a reaction to helplessness. A primary cause of depression in this theory is the ego being unable to maintain a position of being loved in the eyes of the Self and the Other. Notably, this follows a similar trajectory of her earlier shame narrative.
It is important for analysts to communicate with patients on their own terms, Lewis writes. This means, for example, that if a patient thinks she is possessed by the devil, then it is not useful for the analyst to tell the patient that this is impossible, but rather to ask the patient if she knows how this happened, and to negotiate on these terms a solution from this torment.
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