Becoming the school slut in the seventh grade and being gay when your dad is a

pastor. My name is Andrea and this is adult child. Child. What's a holding on to? But just let it all go.

Welcome back to Adult Child,

where we take a deep dive into the impact of growing up

in a dysfunctional family.

And today, we are taking a dysfunctional family.

And today, we are taking a deep dive

into one of the most damaging repercussions

that comes from growing up in a dysfunctional family.

Shame.

But not just any kind of shame.

The kind of shame you feel

when you become the school slut in the seventh grade. or the kind of shame you feel when you're gay

and your dad is the pastor of an evangelical mega church. This is what we call toxic shame and yes you will be hearing both of those

stories today. So before we dive into toxic shame let's talk about regular old shame, the human emotion of shame,

which is a painful feeling that arises when we have the awareness that we've done something

dishonorable or improper.

And while no one wants to feel shame,

obviously, it is unfortunately a fundamental part of the human experience and it's actually

healthy to experience from time to time. Why do I say that? Well first off, it lets us know that we aren't a

sociopath as sociopaths typically don't experience shame. So yay there. But more importantly, shame often serves as the catalyst positive change in our lives.

You see, shame is the red flag to self that we have acted out of alignment in a moral sense.

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