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Social transition, exclusion, and

Robert Oravecz, MD, PhD*, Lilla Hárdi, MD* & László Lajtai, MD*

Abstract Introduction Although is a permanently pres- The last decade of the twentieth century ent phenomenon in human history, only the philo- was also a decade of extreme political and sophical approach originating from the nineteenth interethnic violence that occurred in widely century perceived it as an “anomaly”. Today, the different social circumstances and almost phenomenon of social exclusion is an important worldwide. The horrible events of massive element of contemporary intellectual discourse. political and interethnic terror before the Shame and humiliation are closely connected to social exclusion, and the interdisciplinary con- global eyes of the news media networks on cept of humiliation might contribute to the under- one hand, and, on the other hand, the hu- standing of some socio-psychological aspects of manitarian work provided for the survivors social traumatisation. turned the of the professional com- The process of Central and Eastern European munity towards the question of the short- social transformation contributed to the realisation and long-term consequences of extreme of some important aspects of social traumatisation. violence, , and exclusionism.1 For the understanding of these aspects, the con- From the perspective of more than a de- cepts of social exclusion, humiliation and mental cade’s experience, it seems that the late mod- are very important, as the history of humili- ern times promoted the development of a ation radically influences the social competency of broad, multi- and interdisciplinary psycho- individuals and groups, the generation of mental pain and, consequently, the rise of destructive and traumatological discourse that contributed self-destructive behaviour. to the recognition of the individual, social and In this article, the authors wish to discuss not even the cultural consequences of political, only the humiliation-based mechanisms that rad- military and/or home-based violence. ically influence the relation between perpetrators Particularly, the “fall of the Iron Curtain” and victims, but also the scientific discourse of so- at the beginning of the nineties in Central cial traumatisation and social exclusion. and Eastern Europe turned the attention of T ORTURE scientists towards totalitarism-related psycho- Key words: trauma, PTSD, victim, violence, traumatological phenomena. humiliation, social competence, mental pain Volume 14, Number 1, 2004 According to these research findings and theoretical models, shame and humiliation are socio-cultural phenomena that emerge *) Cordelia Foundation for the Rehabilitation as consequences of violence, and are on the of Torture Victims rise among individuals, groups, ethnicities Balzac u. 37 and societies. H-1136 Budapest Hungary The authors are psychiatrists who are in- [email protected] volved in the mental health and trauma-re- 4

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lated issues of refugees, asylum seekers, for- The psychiatrist explained to her that mer political prisoners and victims of sexual victims of extreme violence were often violence in Central Europe. During their con- humiliated, and they suffered from versations, they realised that many problems of deep shame. Usually a long therapeutic of the countries in which they live and work contact was needed to break their silence, (Slovenia, Hungary, Voyvodina in Serbia, a silence caused by feelings of shame. Half a and Montenegro) are closely related to the year was not enough to break the silence. traumatic experiences of the population The psychiatrist and her team needed nearly during the totalitarian regimes of the last a year of regular work at the acceptation sta- century. tion to build a really open therapeutic con- It is possible that the short-term and, tact with the applicants.They had to put down even more, the long-term consequences of the foundations of a newly built “basic ” political and interethnic violence may influ- in order to open the box with the most hu- ence the quality of life and the cultural well- miliating secrets. being of the entire population or some of its segments for a long time. During the therapeutic process, victims of During more than a decade of therapeu- violence often describe themselves as tic work with various populations of trauma- socially “unacceptable, filthy and stinky”. tised and victimised individuals and groups, They are also often unable to separate them- the authors were often confronted with char- selves from their perpetrators or to turn acteristic statements and behavioural patterns against them. of trauma survivors, depending on how they For survivors of violence, it is sometimes perceived their trauma and victimhood. very difficult to recognise their legitimate It became evident to the authors that social rights and/or values, especially rights seriously wounded people often try to make arising from their status as victims. themselves invisible or to hide behind various It becomes evident from the personal kinds of fronts. narratives told by the survivors that the pro- cess of traumatisation, , and the A few years ago a television reporter asked subsequent secondary identity construction, the permission of a psychiatrist at a refugee is significantly connected to the phenomena camp to conduct interviews with raped women. of shame and humiliation. The psychiatrist told her that she had been working in the camp for only half a year and Theoretical background had no information about raped women, and The existing theoretical literature on shame even if she had, she should not disclose such and humiliation generally uses the two terms information. The reporter did not accept the as synonyms, and most authors distinguish psychiatrist’s statement and still came to visit only quantitative differences between them. the camp, since she was certain to be able to Therefore, an almost constant semantic find subjects for her interview. In the even- vagueness is present in the literature regard- ing, the psychiatrist and the reporter met at ing the meanings of “shame” and “humili- the gate of the camp. After spending the day ation”.

Volume 14, Number 1, 2004 Volume at the camp, the reporter was exhausted and In the opinion of the authors, this above- disappointed, “They are hiding”, she said and mentioned indiscrimination originates from ORTURE

T was very upset with the psychiatrist. a theoretical tradition that does not aim to 5

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clarify and/or separate these two terms. In element. In Japanese society, is defined approaching the recent outcomes of extreme more by situational ethics7; therefore a social violence, however, it seems very relevant to action may be either good or bad, depending describe the effect of humiliation also by on the situation. In traditional Japan, the distinguishing it from the effect of shame. boundaries of the “self” were considered A theoretical model that serves the clari- as non-individual, since they also included fication of this conceptual vagueness could the context of relevant social relationships. meaningfully contribute to a better under- Keeler8 demonstrated the same for Javanese standing of the psychosocial consequences of society, in which children from about the age violence. of six should acquire the skill of talking at dif- With this paper, which emphasises their ferent hierarchic speech levels, otherwise they experiences with refugees and survivors of would meet parental disapproval and the ex- torture and/or sexual violence, the authors pression of isin (a Javanese term for sham- intend to contribute to the development of a ing). It is important to mention that many shame- and humiliation-related psychotrau- scholars criticised the original concept of matological discourse. Benedict for its possible ethnocentric inter- pretations and its irrelevance to contempo- Cultural anthropology and shame rary Japanese society. The phenomenon of shame was traditionally connected to the scientific discourse in the Psychology, philosophy and shame field of cultural anthropology. Pitt-Rivers2 The issue of shame became a key concept of provided an early description when he ana- psychological, psychiatric and philosophical lysed Mediterranean societies. He pointed out discussion only a few years ago. Kaufman9 the connection between honour and shame. wrote that the recognition of the scientific He mentioned the classical situation in which importance of shame is connected to a shift the incorrect behaviour of a woman reflects in the theoretical understanding of neuroses. on the males (husbands, fathers and broth- The phenomenon of shame came into the ers) she belongs to.When the female’s honour spotlight through the appearance of some is compromised, the male(s) should bear the newly introduced psychopathological entities, shame. Pastner3 also supports this descrip- syndromes and disorders, and it is connected tion after conducting fieldwork in Pakistani to several psychopathological phenomena, Baluchistan. the so-called “shame-based syndromes”.9 Other anthropological categories (Bene- Otherwise, in contemporary philosophy, 4 5 6 dict , Lebra , Fung ) divide cultures based the issue of shame has been addressed by T ORTURE on their application of shame and guilt. In analysing its application and interpretation monotheistic cultures, the basic phenomenon in Central and East European totalitarian Volume 14, Number 1, 2004 is guilt and its reciprocity. In the so-called systems.10 socio-cultic cultures, e.g. in Japan or China, From this overview of the scientific dis- shame is a fundamental phenomenon. Shame course on shame, the authors suggest that is considered as the basic element in child contemporary psychological concepts of rearing and socialisation by which adults de- shame focus on different aspects (or mean- monstrate to the child his/her social incompe- ings) than those traditionally used by ethnol- tence. In the individualistic Judeo-Christian ogists and anthropologists. It is plausible culture, however, guilt is the fundamental that the different scientific meanings of 6

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shame are connected to different phenom- to shame recognise it as a phenomenon of enological aspects. basic . But shame is also an Heller10 points out the difference be- in the sense of “involvement with some- tween the “physical manifestation of shame” thing”.10 Summarising Heller’s theoretical (blushing) and “deep shame” in native cul- contributions, it should be pointed out that tures in which the intensity of shame depends the “involvement of a human” means emo- on the nature of the violated rule. In con- tions, and the arbitrations made by human temporary societies, the intensity of this feel- authorities value the emotion that is pro- ing is also determined by the individual rela- duced in the process of human involvement. tionships of the person who has violated the Based on the fact that authorities of rule. The plurality of rules (or moral norms) human behaviour are normative authorities, and their appearance in specific situations in “involvement” in this sense is strongly con- contemporary societies is probably the key nected to the sphere of morality. Shame, on element in distinguishing the shame percep- a behavioural level, is connected to particular tion of native and contemporary cultures. social situations and determined by the pres- This suggests that today shame manifests ence of an authority of human behaviour. itself in different ways than it did in native or Kaufman9 describes two activators as ancient societies. developmental sources of shame, from a psy- Wurmser11 points out three different psy- chological point of view. chological aspects of shame: First, the innate activator is the “incom- plete reduction of or ”.9 • Shame – as a particular type of By referring to Tomkins15, Kaufman in a situation of threatened exposure or states, “shame is an affect auxiliary because humiliation. it operates only after the positive affects, • Shame – as an emotion or a cognitive/ interest or enjoyment, have been activated. emotional reaction. Shame functions as a specific inhibitor of • Shame – as a reactive formation (charac- continuing interest and enjoyment.” terological trait). Kaufman9 also states that “whenever an individual’s fundamental expectations (ima- The word “shame” originates from the Teu- gined positive scenes or desired outcomes in tonic root word “skem” and means “to cover relation to people, events, or accomplishment) oneself”.12 Schultz13 states, “The parts of are suddenly exposed as wrong, shame is ac- ourselves we wish to hide are the shameful tivated. Whenever expectations are thwarted parts, and we also wish to hide the fact that or disappointed, shame is also activated. we are ashamed.” These are all instances of the innate activa- Jamieson14 analyses the usage of the ex- tion of shame, triggered by the partial or in- pression of shame in an East-Nicaraguan complete reduction of positive affect or of community. There, shame is primarily an in- the imagined scenes thereof”. trapsychic emotion that, in a certain context, Second, the interpersonal activator of reflects a distinct inter-gender communicative shame, as Kaufman9 describes it, is “break- interaction and is not connected to taboo ing the interpersonal bridge”. She provides

Volume 14, Number 1, 2004 Volume values imposed on a person by other mem- an insight into the interpersonal genesis of bers of the community. shame through the presentation of the bond- ORTURE

T Psychological and behavioural approaches ing process between a mother and an infant. 7

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She emphasises the role of eye contact (gaz- “not to be dominated by the enemy”. Eye ing in their relationship): “The eyes are in- contact is a very special form of human con- deed windows of soul”. tact. Our environment can be controlled by Identification is the central term in un- identifying whether objects are friendly or derstanding the bonding process. The merit hostile towards us. Children look down if of bonding is “the infant’s feeling of oceanic they feel ashamed; parents can humiliate the oneness or union” with the mother that he/ disobedient child by looking at him/her with she recognises as “basic security”. or . This means control over the Heller10 also points out the role of eyes child who tries to avoid the strict glance of which she observed while examining the lin- the adult. guistic expression of shame-related events. The young client’s only means of defence She related the role of gazing to the specific was to avoid eye contact with his torturers. relations of the individual and the authorities He felt he could neither be influenced nor of human behaviour. As she stated, shame is humiliated by them if he did not give them connected to the presence of external author- his eyes, the only part of his body that pre- ities. served his past identity. “They could beat M.Weber16 describes domination (“author- me, they could keep me without light, food ity”) as “the probability that specific com- and water, but they could not get my eyes and mands (or all commands) will be obeyed by my soul,” he said. a given group of persons.” From this follows One of the results of the therapeutic pro- that authority is a legitimate relation of domi- cess was that he looked into the eyes of the nation (those who exercise authority) and therapist, gaining back his trust in her and in subjection (those who are excluded from the the others around him. exercise of authority). It seems that eye control over the viola- Heller, in her ethical philosophical theory10, tion of the rules is necessary for the activa- points out the regulative (authoritarian) as- tion of shame. Therefore, the role of an ex- pects of shame production and their relation ternal authority is connected to the role of to the development of moral values. Accord- an observer. The internalisation of external ing to her theoretical approach, the basic authorities is connected to the internalisation social role of an external authority is a socio- of moral values. An individual evaluates his/ cultural reality construction via the process her own behaviour based on the values repre- of social meaning production and selection. sented by moral authorities. Violation of ex- By her understanding, an external author-

ternal or internalised values leads to exclu- ity is able to maintain control over human T ORTURE sion or the alienation of the individual or behaviour if: group and/or to the experience of shame or Volume 14, Number 1, 2004 humiliation. • The behavioural norms are homogenous. • The community is small. Therapists working with victims of political • The different generations living in the violence often observe that tortured clients same community don’t experience social avoid eye contact at the beginning of the changes.10 therapy. “I face the earth”, as one of our young clients said after for four years In other settings, it is necessary to activate in Chechnyan underground prison-like cells, an internal authority. Therefore, shaming is 8

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often connected to the process of authority bridge has to exist first in order to be broken internalisation. in the process of shaming.

In the surrealistic world of the torture cham- Shame can be expressed by a serious para- ber, the victim’s only means of survival is to noid attitude towards the therapist working accept the rules and the roles offered by the with the refugees in a camp. As time passes perpetrator (the torturer). He/she identifies and they realise that the therapist arrives re- with the torturer by internalising him as an liably on the promised day and time, the internal object. This is the only way to feel fundamentals of trust and reliable relation- safe in a tormented world and to gain pro- ships are rebuilt. After several therapeutic tection from further torture. Some torture sessions, shame fades and disappears as a re- victims are also inclined to become torturers sult of the reliable therapeutic attachment, themselves. They feel they “belong to the and the clients are able to speak about their other party”, to the “strong adults” who “teach previous trauma. the weak, the child, obedience”. In Second The therapeutic team, led by one of the World War concentration camps, some cap- authors (Lilla Hárdi), wished to develop a tives became the servants of the officers and new method of group therapy in a Hunga- treated their fellow captives even more cru- rian refugee camp for male torture survivors elly than they did. from Iraq. The level of was so heightened that when the therapists showed When evaluating the developmental dimen- a symbolic object and asked the clients for sions of bonding, Kaufman stated, “An in- their associations with the object, nobody terpersonal bridge forms out of reciprocal answered. The refugees mentioned spies in interest and shared experiences of trust. the refugee camp and talked about the pres- Trusting must be matched by the parent be- ence of the Iraqi Secret Service. No one an- having in a trustworthy fashion.” Kaufman9 swered the therapist’s questions. After several identified consistency and predictability as de- sessions, the group prepared a meal for the cisive factors in building an interpersonal therapeutic team. They served fish for the bridge. therapists as a symbolic object! This was The breaking of the interpersonal bridge their for taking care of their problems. happens either by an act of physical violence The paranoid attitude disappeared perfectly or by a language-based, performative act that and, as an of the therapeutic will have an effect only under certain con- situation, they themselves offered the meal ditions in an authority relationship. For ex- as a sacral, symbolic object. After this ses- ample, the expression “Shame on you!” pro- sion, there were no longer problems with duces feelings of shame only if the “shamed” their associations and their trust. person recognises and accepts the authority of the “shaming” person. The threat of rejec- Tracing possible shame-producing events, tion and possible abandonment seems to be Kaufman9 emphasised: the source of the behavioural change that is caused by shaming. • The role of early parental expressions of

Volume 14, Number 1, 2004 Volume Therefore, the authority relationship is an anger. important, but not the only, condition for • The connection between shame and the ORTURE

T shaming. In other words, an interpersonal of abandonment. 9

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• The shame-producing mechanism of the that destroyed his and home. He found utterance “Shame on you”. an escape in daydreaming and tried to avoid reality by creating fantasies about “bad and Cloke12 states, “Shame wounds that occur as aggressive people” who dominate the world. a result of child whether from neglect, It became clear during the therapeutic pro- violence, , humiliation, cess that this was the only way he could de- or abandonment are often subsumed into a feat his shameful feelings that originated child’s self image. These experiences pro- from the regular humiliation and maltreat- duce ‘bad self’ feelings and are felt as self- ment he suffered during the war. loathing, inadequacy, powerlessness, weak- ness, and worthlessness.” Although Cloke Shultz13 explains the effect of humiliation as here describes the phenomenon of shaming “… it so disrupts our function that the ego as it is caused by violent events, his descrip- is temporarily dissolved and dead. Shame tion seems to be closer to the definition of comes with consciousness, particularly self humiliation. In the opinion of the authors, a consciousness – self consciousness that is the general impact on the Self is the key notion awareness of our constitutional inadequacy, that separates the phenomenon of shame our essential inferiority, worthlessness and from that of humiliation. evil. It is the affect of knowing the shadow. The overwhelming and devastating effect It comes with dismemberment, in the sense of abuse and neglect is easily imaginable. of being cut off from an essential source of survival, be it mother, , community, self, A young refugee boy – 17 years old – asked God, or other, and it comes with dismem- for help from a therapist in a refugee camp. berment also in the sense of splitting off or The young client finished his schooling repressing the shameful part.” at the age of fourteen in Afghanistan. Then The violent implementation of social he was taken to the army, where he became rules set by an external authority causes feel- his father’s assistant and carried the guns in ings of impotence, suppression and/or numb- the battles. After he witnessed his father being ness. In clinical practice, however, humiliation shot and killed, he himself was also mal- is rarely observable as a separate phenomenon. treated by the Taliban. He was humiliated on a regular basis, beaten with a leash, he Shame and humiliation suffered from hunger, and could eat only Based on the modalities of shame production, once a day. He was also forced to bear arms observed in therapeutic and cultural anthro-

pological work, the authors recognised that T

and shoot at the enemy. Later he succeeded ORTURE in escaping from Afghanistan, leaving his the mechanisms of shame production are het- erogeneous and produce a wide spectrum of mother, brothers and sisters behind, in dan- Volume 14, Number 1, 2004 ger. After arriving in Hungary, he behaved psychosocial consequences. “rather strangely”. He started to walk the The main components of shame produc- streets, abused nicotine and alcohol, and tion could be described in a two-dimen- even “didn’t tell the truth” to his uncle, who sional model (see Figure 1). lived in Hungary at the time. His behav- The first, vertical axis represents the so- ioural problems were also present at school cial consequences of shame production, with and at work. He was “bad and aggressive”, social inclusion (assimilation, socialisation) on identifying unconsciously with the enemy one side and social exclusion on the other. 10 T ORTURE Volume 14, Number 1, 2004 shame production. components of Figure 1. integration andassimilation. integration oftheprocesstheir stable positionaspart asasigntha hand, ontheother feelings ontheonehandand, result ofovercompensation oftheirminority asthe may be interpreted their hostcountry istan becomethebeststudentsat schoolin that refugeechildrenfrom The fact Afghan- andvalues byanindividual. based rules community- ofcertain the internalisation rather the implementation ofanauthority, motive ofshamingisnot theprimary cases, Insuch individual psychosocialdevelopment. theprocessof tion ofmoralvalues during theimplementa- sinceitserves cultural role, mighthave apositive by anthropologists, asdescribed The traditionaluseofshaming, Social values–inclusion two axis. anisms canberepresentedaccordingtothese ordination ofanindividualtoauthority. implementation ofsocialvalues thesub- versus The shameproducingevents andmech- axisrepresentsthe horizontal The second, The main t theywant toachieve a SUBORDINATION EXCLUSIONISM VIOLENCE, HUMILIATION

SHAME shame may betheItalian ities may break interpersonal bridges inorder bridges mayities breakinterpersonal author- theirtherapeuticwork, during authors societies. lations incontemporary role toplay inimplementingsubordinate re- that shamingalsohasanimportant pears itap- above, described shame production, In contrasttotheculturallypositive roleof Social values–exclusion munity. itishis/herassimilation intothecom- trary, onthecon- dividual fromthesocialspace; not theexclusionorelimination ofanin- andtheeffectofshamingis of moralvalues, conditionsfortheimplementation necessary arejustthe bridge ence ofaninterpersonal andtheexist- The presenceofanauthority ing ofweakness andsubmissiveness. actionthatgressive isproofagainstthefeel- byanag- the communitymay bepreserved Therespectof member. murder ofafamily afterthe fortheshame one suffers EXCLUSION

A traditionalway ofworking through According to the observations ofthe According totheobservations INCLUSION

SHAME SHAME

IMPLEMENTATION CULTURAL IMPLEMENTATION CULTURAL SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE SOCIAL VALUES vendetta taking ,

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to evoke culturally incoherent shame-based often used the expression that she lived feelings in other individuals or just in order “behind the Iron Curtain”. Periodically, the to subordinate them. This is also the aim of father up the family at night, forced the perpetrators during . them to form a line and give account of their work or present their homework. Inclusion – subordination Based on the stories presented by the It is well known in the field of addictology client, the authors concluded that the father that individuals addicted to alcohol often had constructed a “mini” concentration camp apply shame-related techniques in order to for his family. By this he intended to imple- subordinate their family members. They, as ment the “out-of-normal” norms and values well as perpetrators, isolate their victim, in- of a concentration camp. The client com- hibit their reality-constructing attempts that pletely internalised this reality created by would be supported by the relatives and the the father. Even today, she is not able to take outside world, with the intention of destroy- care of her own interests, represent her values ing their victim’s will. In these cases, sham- or assume a role of authority. ing routinely serves as a method to eliminate divergent voices from the social arena, but Humiliation without the intention of excluding the car- Based on the two-dimensional model above, riers of these voices. it was found that humiliation is a distinct Shame-producing mechanisms are also phenomenon that significantly differs from very common in the process of transgene- the other modalities of shaming, and is instead rational trauma transfer, when a traumatised related to subordination, violent reality con- individual (or a perpetrator) is in a role of struction and social exclusion. authority and tries to implement values, rules and other elements of reality that were con- Another client was a survivor of a concentra- structed under the influence of a different tion camp in the years of the Bosnian crisis. set of facts or events that existed in a former As he remembered, they were locked up in social reality. This kind of shaming may also large buildings, such as barns, without any result in the implementation of values, but toilet facilities, and suffered from cold, hunger sometimes subordination of an individual is and thirst. “I felt like an animal when they – the only reason for shaming. the soldiers – came for us and forced us to go in front of the barn and watch how they A psychotherapeutic client of one of the burned women and children. I saw babies

authors is the daughter of a Holocaust sur- burning on an open fire, I smelt the odour T ORTURE vivor. The father was sent to the concentra- of their flesh, I saw women like my mother tion camp in Dachau during the Second and sisters burning in the flames.” Volume 14, Number 1, 2004 World War because of his “partisan activity”. Leaving his country, he wasn’t the same When he returned from the camp, he person as before. He became extremely hos- became an armed officer of the communist tile to the members of his family, regularly regime. At home he tried to develop a spe- abused alcohol and showed symptoms of cial regime for his family, isolated the family antisocial behaviour in the refugee camp. members from the neighbourhood and for- He beat his wife and children regularly, de- bade any social activity that was usual in the stroyed the furniture of their room and community. During the therapy, the client threw it out of the window. His family was 12

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broken, and so were his social contacts. his home country would take him back to As the result of a long therapeutic process prison again. – both individual and group psychotherapy – he could work through his experience of hu- This vignette represents well that breaking miliation. Today he is a valuable member of the will, by defeating, violent and repeated the community in another country to which beating of, or sexual abuse of an individual he could emigrate in good health. (especially an infant), causes feelings of se- vere humiliation, along with thoughts like As the result of torture or humiliation, “I don’t belong, I don’t deserve to be here, trauma-related reality is transformed into I am no good”. the surrealistic reality of the torture chamber, The same applies to raped women in a in which the subordinator/perpetrator is the Muslim society in which they live lonely and absolute authority in implementing reality. invisible, even in big , and express This “irrational” reality causes the victim to their gratefulness, “though I am so bad they become disoriented under “normal” circum- accept me”. stances and excludes him from social rela- Invisibility can preserve the painful im- tionships. pact of lowered self-esteem. Therefore, in such societies, as some experts suggest,17 An eligibility officer of the Hungarian Min- the issue of violence should be addressed istry of the Interior asked the therapist to (e.g. by health care authorities) in order to submit the medical report of an applicant raise awareness of public interest and turn it for refugee status, since he was convinced from a personal burden into a political issue. that “he was telling a because his story Some authors12 define the feelings had contradictions”. The refugee came from caused by violent events as: “It can best be a Middle Eastern country, where he was se- described as an emotional wound to the self verely tortured in a prison for a year, nearly for which one oneself as if one’s per- on a daily basis. He was isolated in a cell for son is the reason”. They also state, “These months without any light. Then he was taken experiences produce ‘bad self’ feelings and to the yard of the prison, forced to kneel and are felt as self-loathing, inadequacy, power- look into the strong sunlight until he felt he lessness, weakness, and worthlessness”. had lost his vision forever. He was hooded According to the theoretical concepts while interrogated and tortured. Palestinian presented above, humiliation shows some hanging, falanga and electrical torture were important differences in comparison to other also applied. shame-based phenomena: During the therapeutic sessions, the client wore a cap over his eyes. “The light disturbs • First, humiliation is usually not a result me,” he stated. He was close to psychosis and of a performative act that is intended to suffered from permanent flashbacks and produce feelings of shame. Hence, the nightmares during his short and unrestful performative expression “Shame on you” sleep at night. Due to his paranoid perception usually is appropriate in order to evoke a of reality, he was not able to talk about his feeling of shame. (Alternatively: First, hu-

Volume 14, Number 1, 2004 Volume traumatic experiences to the therapeutic miliation is not the result of a performative team. He was convinced that should he be- act, as it is in the case of shame, where ORTURE

T gin any conversation, the Secret Service of the performative expression “Shame on 13

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you” is usually sufficient to evoke a feel- til the very end of the therapeutic process. ing of shame.) He sat on his chair with his head bowed, not • Second, humiliation is not conditioned moving his hands and gazing at the floor, as upon the existence of a previous positive if he were trying to hide under the earth, like relationship, or of an interpersonal bridge a little bug, and remain invisible. His self- between the perpetrator and the victim, esteem was entirely lost, he wanted to pre- whereas these are necessary for the devel- sent himself as an object, lying on the floor, opment of shame. The Hungarian expres- submitting himself to anyone entering his sion: megalázás or the Slovenian poni´z anje personal space. clearly reflect the event or process that As the first result of the therapy, the violently subordinates an individual to therapist gained a glance from him; this was an authority by ways of making him inad- the symbol of trust in her, somebody who equate, incompetent or powerless. The did not treat him as a subordinate but as a direct, literal meaning of these expressions human partner. By the time he had finished used for “humiliation” is “degradation” psychotherapy, he could leave the consultation or “putting someone lower”. room walking straight, just as any other • Therefore, humiliation is almost always a young boy of his age. result of violent events, a demonstration of authority over an individual or a group, Facts, distinguishing shame and governed by the intention to elimi- and humiliation nate the individual or the group. • While shame is an emotion, humiliation is an inner psychosocial effect of vio- During their professional careers, the authors lence. met several former political prisoners who • While shame affects an individual only maintained an unusual body posture (head partially, humiliation hits the entire psy- down, hands behind, eyes down, gazing at chosocial self of a person. the floor) in the presence of individuals whom • Humiliation results in two permanent they recognised as authorities. wounds on the human self. Self-destruc- This body posture expresses the accept- tiveness is one, and inability to take charge ance of subordination, powerlessness and of one’s own life and destiny is the other. inadequacy. As they recalled, prison author- ities forced prisoners to take on such a pos- Therefore, humiliation affects the individual ture as the expression of their subordination. through the destruction of his/her social competence.

It seems that once imprinted, the posture be- T ORTURE comes a life-long behavioural trait in front of • Humiliation, a result of psychophysical anyone who is recognised as an authority. torture or abuse, gives a long-lasting ad- Volume 14, Number 1, 2004 vantage to the perpetrator/torturer. A young Russian boy, mentioned previously, was kept in an underground prison by The lack of the victim’s social competence, Chechnyan troops for four years, where he coupled with the negative feelings toward was seriously tortured and intimidated. one’s self (caused by the humiliation of human During his therapy, he did not have eye con- ) and the mental pain from which the tact with the therapist for a long time and victim suffers, makes it easy for the perpe- maintained a peculiar body posture right un- trator to implement or to maintain rule and 14

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order, and to eliminate the divergent voices The process of social transition and in the community/society. transformation that presently is taking place in Central and East Europe is an all-embrac- During the application procedure, the eligi- ing and time-dimensioned process connect- bility officer at the Ministry of the Interior ing the past, present and also the future. requested the psychiatrist’s evaluation of One of the most important phenomena whether the applicant had been tortured in of the Central European transition is the his native country or not. destruction of totalitarian authority. The The client had been imprisoned for ten symbolical “loss of the father” could be in- years, but after being released from prison, terpreted as a loss of meaning-coherence, he did not leave his country immediately, and, consequently, as damage caused by a but half a year later. What happened? Per- diffuse reality. The process of transition im- haps he was not telling the truth, he had not plements many different or opposing values been tortured, and even the “prison story” and ideologies, all competing to influence was a fabrication? “mainstream” social discourse. During the therapeutic interview, he Thus, if the process of social transition revealed his story: He tried to carry on his contributes to a developing incoherence of so- life in silence after the imprisonment and cial reality, then the outcome of this process torture, but he was unable to rebuild even is a decreasing relevance of meanings in their his basic contacts with his family members. connection to socio-cultural and ideological His wife divorced him, and his relatives did issues. not accept him as a member of the family. This often contributes to the feeling of He suffered from total , and so he meaning uncertainty and/or meaning unpre- decided to leave the country. In Hungary, dictability. during his interview with the officer, he told Considering meaning uncertainty, the “his story” with some “contradictions”, i.e. Central European transition process activates he was not able to speak about his trauma- many shame- or humiliation-based feelings tisation in a consistent way. This type of be- that are connected to the violent authority haviour was only accepted in his psycho- implementation of the past, the practice of therapeutic relationship, where, in his re- the former totalitarian regime(s). lationship to the therapist, he was able to Of course, these feelings arise not only find the lost trust. As a result of the thera- on the side of victims, but also on the side of peutic process, his dissolved ego boundaries former representatives of authority and their were solidified, and he was granted refugee informers. status after being able to present his life Meaning incoherence is increasing dur- history in a coherent way and showing ing this transition process. The fragmentation “healthy ”. of ideology often changes the socio-histor- ical position of the victims of (former, mainly Effects of humiliation and political) humiliation, but the act of libera- social transition tion generally is not sufficient to transform At the end of the article, the authors wish the belief systems of the victims.

Volume 14, Number 1, 2004 Volume to point out that the phenomenon of humili- On the one hand, despite the changing ation is of special interest during times of socio-cultural conditions, the effect of abuse ORTURE

T social transition and transformation. and humiliation is often sustained by the T ORTURE Volume 14, Number 1, 2004 15 q apanese case. Anthropological Quar- shame: J the terly 1971;44(4):241-55. Chinese children.of shame among young Ethos 1999;27(2):180-209. tures: a forty-year pilgrimage. Ethos 1990;18(3): 279-307. 1983;11(3):152-65. of shame-based syndromes.and treatment New York: Springer, 1989. 1985. of shame. [The power London: Rutledge and Kegan Paul, 1996]. Hopkins University, 1981. www.findingstone.com/professionals/monographs// rageshameandthedeathoflovre.htm content/view/283 enemies:women the politics of intimacy among the Miskitu of Kakabila.An- Journal of the Royal thropological (New Series) Institute 2000;6(2): 311-24. facesmany of shame. York: Guilford Press, New 1984. sity of California Press, 1978. munity and the health profession in responding to violence. Curare 1999;22(1):35-7. 6. Fung H. a moral child: Becoming the socialization 7. Creighton MR. shame and guilt cul- Revisiting 8.W. and stage fright Shame Keeler Java. in Ethos 9. Kaufman G. The psychology of shame: theory 5.TS.The Lebra of guilt and social mechanism 10. Heller Á. hatalma. A szégyen Budapest: Osiris, 11. L. Wurmser The mask of shame. Baltimore: John 12.W. Rage, Cloke of . shame and the death 1998. 13. Schultz JM. Shame. www.cgjungpage.org/ 14. M. Jamieson makes men and shame that It’s 15. S. Tomkins Shame. In: DL. Nathanson The 16. M. Weber and society. Economy Berkley: Univer- 17.A, Khot Deosthali P, Menon S. Role of the com- végen. (Inter-ethnicity and fascism the end of at the millennium). Addictologia Hungarica 1999; 7(6). JG,tiany ed. Honor and shame: of Medi- the values terranian society. London: & Nichol- Weiderfeld son, 1965:27-77. analysis of honor, shame and purdah [case study Baluchistan].from Pakistani Anthropological Quarterly 1972;45(4):248-61. patterns culture. of Japanese Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1946. The inability of the victim population to victim population The inability of the The feeling of social incompetence and The feeling of social 2. Pitt-Rivers J. Honour and social status. In: Peris- 3. C McC. Pastner A social structural and historical 4. Benedict R. The chrysanthemum the sword: and 1. R. Oravecz Inter-etnicitás és fasizmus az ezred- References change the of social discoursechange the flow often contributes to the preservation of a hidden to the persistencereality which is conducive of victim-blaming. can be seen as evi- This which former perpetra-dence of the power the victims. over tors still have the subsequent of the preserves usually humiliated the original re- victims and perpetrators, between lationship despite the transformation of the macro- and micro-social system. victims’ pain they to express the inability suffered during the process of humili- have ation. SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE SCIENTIFIC