PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Torres, Walter J. AU - Bergner, Raymond M. TI - Humiliation: Its Nature and Consequences DP - 2010 Jun 01 TA - Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online PG - 195--204 VI - 38 IP - 2 4099 - http://jaapl.org/content/38/2/195.short 4100 - http://jaapl.org/content/38/2/195.full SO - J Am Acad Psychiatry Law2010 Jun 01; 38 AB - In this article, we present a new analysis of what is involved when individuals undergo significant public humiliation. We describe the structure of humiliation—that is, the factors that, taken collectively, render certain life events and circumstances humiliating; the most common destructive consequences of being subjected to them; and several personality factors that, when present, can serve to amplify the damaging effects of humiliating experiences. The analysis is intended to enable forensic clinicians, lawyers, judges, and other relevant parties to understand better what happens when individuals are humiliated and to identify more precisely the damage that such persons sustain. It is also intended to have heuristic value for the discussion, confrontation, and alleviation of humiliation in correctional, jurisprudential, clinical, and general societal contexts.