Daniel Mintie, LCSW

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Welcome To The 2022

World Championships Of Shame Attacking!

Share Your Shame Attack

Shame Attacking In his 2010 autobiography Albert Ellis wrote “Shame is often the essence of what we call human neurosis or disturbance.”

In 1968 Ellis invented a behavioral method that can quickly reduce or eliminate this toxic emotion – “shame attacking.” My colleagues and I regularly practice this method and prescribe it to our patients. When we find the unwritten rules we have for ourselves repressing our freedom and spontaneity and creating shame, self-consciousness and social anxiety, we can set out to break those rules in a public setting and collect data about what happens when we do. Very often, this data helps us see these oppressive rules are unnecessary for our safety and wellness. We also find that being our silly, rule-breaking selves is a much more relaxed, fun and human road forward. My colleagues and I, shamelessly, share a few of our own shame attacking stories in this post.

In essence, we attack shame by acting in ways that are:

  • Public
  • Harmless
  • Against some oppressive rule we have for ourselves - and would like to rewrite

In his book Ellis gives some examples:

  • Walking into a crowded store and yelling out the time, train-station style
  • Walking a banana down a sidewalk on a long red leash, stopping now and then to pet and praise it
  • Calling out each train stop in a crowded subway car

Share Your Shame Attack

Join Us We invite you to join the ranks of Dr. Ellis and countless other distinguished rulebreakers

We invite you to induct yourself into our Hall Of Shame Attacking using the form to the left. Senior faculty at All Things CBT will review each entry [on shameless view below] and in early October will crown our 2022 World Champion Of Shame Attacking. Our shameless champion will receive one hundred US dollars and an award certificate for display at their office or home. Our first and second place runners up will each receive an award certificate and a one-month subscription to our weekly online training and consultation program, All Things CBT. Good luck - and shame on you!

Hall Of Shame Attacking 2021 Winners

Gold: Maria Elena Gonzalez
Silver: Jacob Towery
Bronze: Haruka Mitsuhashi

Hall Of Shame Attacking

First NameLast NameLocationShare Your Shame Attack Recording
Siddharth
Arya
India
https://vimeo.com/748964306
William
Rees
Shame attack in Warsaw (I live in Vienna/Austria)
Shmuel
Elbinger
I can't enter.. my family has proclaimed Jacob Towery the all-time champion.
Angela
Poch
East Kootenays BC Canada
https://youtu.be/vzBKjBkGzt4
Amy
Huberman
Baltimore, MD