Abstract
In this article, we first reconstruct Greenberg and Paivio's and Wheeler's conceptualizations of shame. Possible additions and modifications to these authors' conceptualizations are then suggested, focusing on the importance of values and childhood experiences in generating shame. As far as Wheeler's position is concerned, we indicate some confusion and doubts about the utility of a radical constructivist view and a one-sided field approach to shame within the frame of a "new paradigm." At the end of the article, we indicate our own conceptualization of shame in theory and practice as a (sometimes necessary and functional) break of value orders of different scope. Last we discuss the protective functions of shame in therapy and in everyday life.
