Substance use disorder, shame, and self-forgiveness: A latent profile analysis

Abstract

Substance use disorder (SUD) is a chronic brain disease characterized in part by one’s inability to emotionally self-regulate. Whereas multiple forgiveness interventions have been implemented to provide alternative strategies for emotional regulation, self-forgiveness interventions are believed to be the most relevant in the context of substance use recovery, yet they have received the least amount of attention (Webb & Jeter, 2015). The present study explored the specific ingredient of self-forgiveness using Cornish and Wade (2015b)’s definition of self-forgiveness, which states that individuals who demonstrate true self-forgiveness 1) have taken responsibility for their actions, 2) experience remorse without shame, and 3) have made either direct or indirect attempts to repair the hurt. Using data collected from an outpatient substance use recovery center and the Amazon Mechanical Turk, a latent profile analysis was first conducted to evaluate patterns of endorsement between the three predictor variables (Responsibility taking, Remorse, and Repair) and yielded three profiles. Of the three profiles, a shame profile was evidenced, and its associations with health outcomes in subsequent regression analyses indicated a significant negative indirect association with health outcomes that were explained through a positive association with shame and a negative association with self-forgiveness. The direct research and clinical implications of these results are discussed.