There are three basic kinds of guilt: (1) natural guilt, or remorse over something you did or failed to do; (2) free-floating, or toxic, guilt—the underlying sense of not being a good person; and (3) existential guilt, the negative feeling that arises out of the injustice you perceive in the world, and out of your own ...
It is believed that there are three different types of guilt that humans experience: reactive, anticipatory, and existential.
Guilt is described as a self-conscious emotion that involves negative evaluations of the self, feelings of distress, and feelings of failure.
In his reflections, Jaspers establishes four types of guilt, viz. criminal, political, moral, and metaphysical.
Guilt, Fishkin says, is associated with activity in the prefrontal cortex, the logical-thinking part of the brain. Guilt can also trigger activity in the limbic system. (That's why it can feel so anxiety-provoking.)
Excessive irrational guilt has been linked to mental illnesses, such as anxiety, depression, dysphoria (feelings of constant dissatisfaction) and obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD)2.
Toxic guilt is when we feel guilt without actually having done anything wrong. For example, this could be the guilt felt when you decided to pursue a career in welding when your parents thought you should be a lawyer… like them.
Symptoms of guilt
People who feel guilty may experience anxiety, stress, sadness, feelings of worthlessness, low self-esteem, regret, loneliness, or critical self-talk.
Guilt is a secondary emotion that is the result of the primary emotion of fear: fear of being “found out”, not good enough or ashamed. Guilt is a choice you make, not a permanent emotion you must tolerate.
Guilt is a moral emotion that occurs when a person believes or realizes—accurately or not—that they have compromised their own standards of conduct or have violated universal moral standards and bear significant responsibility for that violation.
For those with bipolar disorder, and particularly for those with Bipolar II (see my blog from 2/18/10), symptoms in the mild to moderate range can often give rise to feelings of guilt and self-doubt.
Guilt can be a back-breaking emotion; it can destroy our sense of well-being and in the case of Bipolar it can exacerbate an already debilitating condition.
Shame is connected to processes that occur within the limbic system, the emotion center of the brain. When something shameful happens, your brain reacts to this stimulus by sending signals to the rest of your body that lead you to feel frozen in place.
When your guilt is triggered, your body releases cortisol, which is a stress hormone. Cortisol is designed to help you with the flight part of a fight-or-flight response.
Like other fear responses, the Challenge Response releases stress hormones (cortisol and adrenaline) in order to get us going. But it also releases oxytocin, which soothes us and motivates us to connect with others, and DHEA, which helps the brain learn from the situation (5).
Specific activations were found for shame in the frontal lobe (medial and inferior frontal gyrus), and for guilt in the amygdala and insula.
Guilt and shame are similar emotions in that both involve feeling bad about oneself. Guilt is generally associated with something one has done (or not done). Shame, on the other hand, is often experienced as a feeling of being a bad, unworthy, hateful person.
Here are some of the inner statements that can lead to unhealthy guilt: "It's my fault that he is feeling angry." "I should have done what she wanted instead of what I wanted. I have caused her to feel hurt."
People may feel guilt for a variety of reasons, including acts they have committed (or think that they committed), a failure to do something they should have done, or thoughts that they think are morally wrong.