The Thurston Cradock Test of Shame as a Crucial “Empathy Magnifier”

Abstract. This article presents a Therapeutic Assessment (TA; Finn, 2007 ) case study of a teenage girl assessed because of a complex set of symptoms: history of suicidal statements, sensory sensitivity, questions about gender identity, depression, anxiety/OCD, and possible subclinical psychotic symptoms. Logan’s parents, Joe and Susan, participated in the assessment, with Susan attending every appointment and Joe attending only the first and last. Ten instruments were administered, with each providing information about different aspects of Logan. The Thurston Cradock Test of Shame (TCTS; Thurston & Cradock O’Leary, 2009 ) scores and analysis encompassed all of the other test findings, clarified details not fully explained by tests such as the Rorschach and MMPI-A, and brought the core adolescent and family issue of shame to the foreground. When the assessors explained shame to Logan’s mother, she was better able to understand her daughter’s shame and connect with her own feelings of shame. When Logan’s father arrived for the final feedback session, he was quite tense, argumentative, and threatened to cancel the appointment. The TCTS allowed the assessors to understand Joe’s aggressive behavior as signs of TCTS defenses of deflation, aggression, and inflation/contempt, appreciate his underlying feelings of shame, and to delicately restore the “interpersonal bridge” ( Kaufman, 1996 ), which is key to reducing shame. As a result, Joe’s defensiveness decreased, and he was open to continuing the feedback session. In the end, Joe was able to identify with his daughter in a new way and even admit his own sense of shame in the session. This provided an opportunity for healing in the whole family.