Shame and guilt feel similar from the outside, but they work differently. Guilt is the feeling that you did something wrong. Shame is the feeling that you are wrong, something fundamentally broken or unworthy. Both are painful, and both can become stuck in ways that keep you from moving forward or from seeing yourself clearly.
Therapy gives you a space to examine where these feelings come from and whether they're telling you something useful or something that's become a habit of self-attack. Working with a therapist, you can look at the experiences and messages that shaped your inner critic, begin to separate what you're genuinely responsible for from what you've taken on that isn't yours, and find a more honest and less punishing way of relating to yourself. That shift is slow, but it matters.
Shift Collab, Toronto, Ontario, Canada