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Call Us: 043 33 62041 | 043 33 62042 |     Email Us: enquiries@icps.ie  |      Ballymahon, Co. Longford

​Duration: 10 Weeks
Schedule: 3 hours per week
Audience: Therapists, counsellors, coaches, pastoral carers, social workers, mental-health professionals.

 

Week 1 — Introduction to Guilt, Regret & Moral Emotion

Learning Outcomes

  • Understand guilt and regret as core human moral emotions

  • Differentiate guilt, shame, remorse, and moral injury

  • Learn the adaptive purpose of guilt

Lecture Topics

  • What guilt is and is not

  • The psychology of moral emotions

  • Moral development theories (overview)

  • Regret as a cognitive-emotional process

Practice

  • Guided reflection: “Your earliest memory of guilt.”

  • Guilt–shame differentiation exercises

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Week 2 — The Neurobiology & Physiology of Guilt

Learning Outcomes

  • Understand the brain systems involved in guilt & moral cognition

  • Recognize physiological correlates of guilt and moral distress

  • Identify maladaptive guilt patterns

Lecture Topics

  • Brain networks: empathy circuits, prefrontal cortex, limbic system

  • Stress and guilt: cortisol, arousal, rumination

  • Healthy vs. unhealthy guilt

  • The role of empathy in guilt formation

Practice

  • Somatic awareness exercise

  • Mapping physiological guilt responses

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Week 3 — Assessment & Case Formulation

Learning Outcomes

  • Conduct structured assessments of guilt and regret

  • Identify underlying causes (trauma, upbringing, perfectionism)

  • Formulate cases using integrative frameworks

Lecture Topics

  • Guilt assessment domains: moral, neurotic, pathological

  • Identifying cognitive distortions and moral reasoning errors

  • Developmental roots of guilt

  • Case formulation models

Practice

  • Roleplay intake interviews

  • Build a 5-P case formulation

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Week 4 — Working with Moral Injury & Deep Regret

Learning Outcomes

  • Understand moral injury (non-clinical introduction)

  • Explore the emotional, spiritual, and relational impact

  • Learn stabilisation and meaning-making strategies

Lecture Topics

  • Sources of moral injury: action, inaction, betrayal

  • Emotional consequences: sorrow, grief, conflict, self-blame

  • Meaning-making and existential processing

  • Reconciliation and self-forgiveness principles

Practice

  • Narrative reconstruction (gentle, limited scope)

  • “Moral conflict mapping”

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Week 5 — Cognitive Approaches to Guilt & Regret

Learning Outcomes

  • Identify thinking patterns that create or maintain guilt

  • Apply cognitive restructuring to moral beliefs

  • Work with black-and-white morality

Lecture Topics

  • Cognitive distortions: responsibility bias, catastrophizing, hindsight judgment

  • Perfectionism and guilt

  • How beliefs shape moral emotions

  • Introducing flexible moral reasoning

Practice

  • Thought-challenging worksheets

  • Group reframing exercises

Formative Assignment

  • Short paper 1,000 Words: “The difference between regret and moral injury.”

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Week 6 — Emotional Processing & Self-Forgiveness

Learning Outcomes

  • Learn processes for emotional integration

  • Guide clients in self-compassion

  • Understand the barriers to self-forgiveness

Lecture Topics

  • The emotional arc of guilt

  • Self-compassion: principles & misconceptions

  • Forgiveness models

  • Working with self-directed anger

Practice

  • Compassion-focused exercises

  • Self-forgiveness statements & resistance exploration

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Week 7 — Regret Across the Lifespan & Life Transitions

Learning Outcomes

  • Understand regret in different developmental stages

  • Support clients navigating life transitions (career, relationships, identity)

  • Explore existential regret

Lecture Topics

  • Regret in adolescence, adulthood, and aging

  • Paths taken vs. paths not taken

  • Existential psychology: authenticity, meaning, agency

  • Rewriting life narratives

Practice

  • “Alternate life paths” timeline exercise

  • Guided values clarification

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Week 8 — Guilt in Relationships: Attachment, Boundaries & Repair

Learning Outcomes

  • Understand relational guilt patterns

  • Support clients in boundary-setting

  • Develop skills for relational repair work

Lecture Topics

  • Attachment styles & guilt

  • People-pleasing, overresponsibility & guilt

  • Healthy vs. toxic relational guilt

  • Apology, repair & reconciliation

Practice

  • Boundary-setting rehearsal

  • Relational conflict mapping

  • Apology/repair roleplays

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Week 9 — Cultural, Ethical & Spiritual Dimensions of Guilt

Learning Outcomes

  • Explore how culture shapes guilt & morality

  • Recognize ethical and spiritual frameworks clients may hold

  • Adapt work to multicultural and multi-belief contexts

Lecture Topics

  • Guilt in collectivist vs. individualist cultures

  • Religious guilt vs. moral guilt

  • Value-based counselling

  • Working ethically and respectfully with differing worldviews

Practice

  • Cultural case studies

  • Values-clarification mapping

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Week 10 — Integration, Ethics & Practitioner Wellbeing

Learning Outcomes

  • Integrate coursework into clinical practice

  • Understand ethical responsibilities

  • Develop strategies for managing emotional load and vicarious guilt

Lecture Topics

  • Scope of practice & professional boundaries

  • Countertransference: guilt, responsibility & moral pressure

  • Supervision as emotional protection

  • Practitioner self-care & resilience

Practice

  • Group supervision-style discussion

  • Designing a self-care plan

  • Course review & consolidation

Summative Assessment

  • 3,500 Words TBC

PROFESSIONAL DIPLOMA IN WORKING WITH GUILT, REGRET & THE MORAL PSYCHE

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