Visión de la Empresa

Demographic differences. The two groups of participants were matched on gender and ethnicity. However, the CDUs were on average 4 years older and this difference just reached significance. The CDUs had lower age-scaled IQ scores, had left school

at a younger age, had taken exams at a lower level, and had been out of work for longer than the NDUs. However, none of the essential demographic differences, such as IQ and age, correlated with scores on shame sub-scales. Moreover, the level of exams completed by the participants did not influence levels of shame.

Group differences on shame, depression, aggression and dissociation. Compared to the non-drug using controls, the chronic drug users appeared to experience higher levels of characterological, bodily and total shame, and higher levels of depression, aggression and dissociative experiences. However, when controlling for depression, and depression and aggression together, CDUs appeared to experience higher levels of characterological shame only. In fact, the difference in depression between the two groups accounted for the differences in bodily and total shame. Likewise, only the group difference in characterological shame remained when controlling for dissociative experiences. However, dissociation did not account for the group differences in behavioural and bodily shame.

The relationship between shame about drug use and characterological. behavioural and bodilv shame. Amongst CDUs, drug use appears to be associated with higher levels of shame about the individual’s general character, behaviour or body. That is, the higher the level of shame a CDU experiences about their drug use, the higher the levels of shame they are likely to experience about any one of these three additional types of shame, and vice versa. It should be noted, however, that shame about drug use only explains between 28% and 37% of the variance of any of the other sources of shame.

An exploration of the relationship between shame about drug use and demographic data showed a trend for shame about drug use to be related to the age of chronic drug users. The older the CDU was, the lower their shame about drug use tended to be.

The relationship between disclosure, shame and shame avoidance/concealment tendencies. Two approaches were used to assess levels of disclosure. The first approach used a visual analogue scale to assess the extent of disclosure or non­ disclosure. The second approach used qualitative responses to classify the CDUs into one of two categories: (i) having failed to disclose important personal information (non-disclosers) or (ii) having disclosed all or having had nothing to disclose.

Using the first approach, findings on the visual analogue scales suggested that the more CDUs had disclosed, the more they believed disclosing was needed for staff to be able to help them, and vice versa. However, there was no relationship between either the level of disclosure or the level of perceived ability of staff to help, and levels of shame experienced. There were also no differences in levels of shame found between those who had disclosed a lot and those who had disclosed a little, or between those who felt disclosure was necessary for treatment to be effective and those who did not hold this belief.

According to the second classification approach, based on qualitative responses, ten (32%) of the CDUs were identified as non-disclosers, as they had not disclosed important personal issues. Findings based on this suggested that there were group differences in levels of shame. When compared to those who had either disclosed

all, or had nothing to disclose, non-disclosers experienced higher levels of shame in all the shame subscales, apart from shame about drug use, and all of these remained after controlling for depression. After removing eleven items of the ESS, pertaining to shame avoidance/concealment, non-disclosers still experienced higher characterological, behavioural and bodily shame scores than those who had either disclosed all or had nothing to disclose.

Nature of issues not disclosed and reasons for non-disclosure. As mentioned, according to the classification on qualitative response, ten (32%) of the CDUs were identified as non-disclosers. The themes outlined below, about the nature of the issues not disclosed and the reasons for non-disclosure, were identified from the responses of these ten non-disclosers to two open-ended questions about non­ disclosure.

The nature of the issues, which these participants had not been able to disclose, fell into two categories: Current and past issues. Ninety percent of the non-disclosers had not felt able to disclose about current issues, such as their relationships with their partners and their children, their mental health state, and other current issues. Only 20% had not felt able to disclose about historical issues, such as their upbringing, parental drug use and events that had happened in childhood. Two main themes were identified amongst the reasons given for not feeling able to disclose these issues: Shame-related and non-shame-related reasons. Sixty percent of the non- disclosers identified shame-related reasons for their non-disclosure. These included worries about feeling ashamed about themselves and fears that others might judge them negatively if they were to disclose. They also expressed concerns that their

personal issues were of such a nature that it would be difficult to talk about them. Non-shame-related reasons for non-disclosure were brought up by three of the non- disclosers. These included worries that disclosure would affect their methadone prescription, or that staff could not, or would not be able to help with the important personal issues, were they to disclose.

4.2. Comparability of groups and reasons for differences in