This week's guest on the podcast is Beverly Engel. Beverly Engel is an internationally recognized psychotherapist and an acclaimed advocate for victims of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. She is the author of 26 self-help books, including three bestselling books on emotional abuse. Beverly is a licensed marriage and family therapist, and has been practicing psychotherapy for 40 years. In addition to her professional work, Beverly frequently lends her expertise to national television talk shows. She has appeared on Oprah, CNN, and Starting Over, and many other TV programs. We talk about childhood abuse and neglect and the negative impact that this can have, with shame being a huge part of this. Self-compassion can be the antidote to shame but for someone with a history of abuse, there can be many obstacles to self-compassion. We talk about these obstacles and the ways to get past them.