Working with Chronic Shame, Dr. Patricia DeYoung

Part One: Understanding and Working with Chronic Shame

In this insightful recorded seminar, internationally respected relational psychotherapist Dr. Patricia DeYoung unpacks one of the most pervasive yet elusive experiences in psychotherapy: chronic shame. Drawing on her decades of clinical work and her influential writings, Dr. DeYoung explains how chronic shame manifests in three distinct but overlapping ways — dysregulated, deficit, and dissociated — and offers practical, relational ways to work with each in the therapy room.

You’ll learn how to recognise these “faces” of shame in your clients, how chronic shame arises through histories of disintegration in the presence of dysregulating others, and how your therapeutic presence — solid, compassionate, and fearless — can help restore the client’s capacity for integration and connection. Dr. DeYoung illustrates each type with clear, relatable clinical examples, emphasising the core principle of a deeply intentional being-with that transforms shame into connection.

Part Two: Making the Most of Co-Transference Shame in Relational Therapy

Building on her first session, Dr. DeYoung returns in this follow-up recording to explore shame as an invisible, co-created force that shapes the therapeutic relationship itself. Here, she highlights how shame often slips quietly into the relational space, influencing both client and therapist — and how recognising and working openly with this co-transference shamecan transform it from an obstacle into a profound opportunity for deeper connection and growth.

This recorded session dives deeper into how each face of chronic shame complicates therapy dynamics, the predictable sequences of enactment that can arise, and the therapist’s necessary entanglements and disentanglements with the client’s shame. With gentle clarity, Dr. DeYoung normalises the therapist’s own vulnerability, reminding us that “there’s no shame in co-transference shame — only an invitation to learn.”

These recorded webinars are ideal for any practitioner, supervisor or trainee working with complex relational dynamics, and will be especially valuable for those seeking to deepen their understanding of shame, relational enactments, and the art of transforming silent suffering into mutual connection.

✅ Listen anytime, anywhere — pause, replay, and reflect at your own pace.
✅ Earn CPD — simply let us know once you’ve completed the recording to receive your certificate.

These webinars were originally recorded with a live audience on the 28^th May 2023 and the 4^th April 25 respectively

Video lecture – and handouts – 1 hour and 56 mins and 2 hours 17 mins respectively

BUY NOW – Part One £40.00

BUY NOW – Part Two £40.00

Dr. Patrica. A. DeYoung. MSW, PhD, is a relational psychotherapist, clinical supervisor, and a founding faculty member of the Toronto Institute for Relational Psychotherapy. She has written two books, Relational Psychotherapy: A Primer (2003, expanded second edition, 2015) and Understanding and Treating Chronic Shame: A Relational/Neurobiological Approach ( 2015).  A second expanded edition is published under the title Understanding and Treating Chronic Shame:  Healing Right Brain Relational Trauma (2022).