Chronic shame is widely understood and studied as a painful emotion or negative belief about oneself. From a NARM® developmental and relational perspective, however, chronic shame can be understood as an adaptive process that develops in response to early relational and attachment failures, a process that continues into adulthood through patterns of self-shaming, self-judgment, self-rejection, and self-hatred. In this presentation, psychologist, Meadows Senior Fellow, and founder of the NeuroAffective Relational Model® (NARM®) Laurence Heller, PhD, will introduce a different and transformative way of understanding and working with chronic shame—as a process rather than an emotion. Dr. Heller will present how chronic shame develops as an early adaptive process in response to relational and attachment failures and how these self-shaming dynamics are carried forward into adulthood, where they continue to impact identity, physiology, emotional regulation, capacity for relationship, and connection to the self. Dr. Heller will also introduce clinical principles for supporting clients to recognize self-shaming dynamics, to help them develop greater agency in how they relate to themselves and others, and greater capacity to reconnect with their emotions, needs, and authentic self-expression from which they have become disconnected.