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The Human Experience

Guilt

Michael Breslin considers the place of guilt in a healthy personality.

The goal of this article is to demonstrate the place of guilt in a healthy personality. First what do we mean by a ‘healthy personality’ and ‘guilt’. According to Sydney M. Jourard and Ted Landsman in Healthy Personality (1980), “the term healthy personality is used to describe those ways of being that surpass the average in actualization of self and in compassionate relationships with others.” I would add that a healthy personality requires being responsible enough to make decisions about the direction of one’s life, and having the courage to live with the consequences of one’s choices and actions.

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