Guilt is the consideration of someone as responsible for acting against a norm or their own conscience.
The concept of guilt can be analyzed from several perspectives: from the sphere of law, religion or as a personal feeling.
In law
A criminal action is necessarily accompanied by guilt, which is established by a legal body. At the level of legality, for someone to be considered guilty they must meet certain requirements: 1) have reached a certain age and, therefore, be aware that an action is incorrect or is prohibited by law, 2) have the sufficient intellectual capacity to distinguish good from evil and 3) that a legal norm establishes an explicit relationship between an action and its corresponding penalty or sanction.
In the Christian and Jewish religion
The Christian and Jewish religion embody a general principle: man was born with original sin. This idea is based on Adam's disobedience in breaching God's command regarding the forbidden fruit. In this way, man has a natural inclination towards sin, which produces a very present feeling of guilt.
The feeling of guilt
Regardless of the legal and religious plane, people live situations in which they consider themselves guilty for some reason: because they have done something wrong, because they feel responsible for their actions or because of religious and moral convictions that make them feel bad in relation to their conduct.
Psychologists consider that it is not easy to overcome the feeling of guilt, since it is a mismatch between what we do and what we consider that we should do based on our individual conscience. On the other hand, some doctrines emphasize the idea of guilt, which produces a deep internal malaise between what is felt and what should be felt.
The challenge of overcoming guilt
In most cases we are responsible for our actions and, consequently, it is inevitable to have a sense of guilt if we have made a mistake and are aware of it. However, sometimes the feeling of guilt is an unfounded or exaggerated emotion, which can become unhealthy. In these cases, psychologists recommend adopting strategies to reduce or redirect the idea of guilt. There are no definitive solutions to eradicate the feeling of guilt, but specialists consider that it is important to know how to forgive yourself and go to a therapist in the event that this emotion is constant.
