feeling bad

i am researching guilt and shame.
its for a presentation for class
but its something i've been having a hard time dealing with and i cannot every seem to dicipher between the two in my personal activity.

Guilt- the fact or state of having committed an offense, crime, violation, or wrong esp against moral or penal law, culpability....a feeling of responsibility or remorse for some offense, crime, wrong etc whether real or imagined...feelings of culpability especially for imagined offenses or from a sense of inadequacy; morbit self-reproach often manisfested in marked preoccupation with the moral correctness of one's behavior guilt and uncertainty

Shame- a painful feeling arising from the consciousness of something dishonorable, improper, rediculous, etc, done by oneself or other... disgrace... a painful emotion caused by a strong sense of guilt, embarrasment, unworthiness or disgrace...a painful sensation excited by a consciousness of guilt or impropriety, or having done something which injures reputation, or of the exposure of that which nature or modesty prompts us to conceal

the most prominent thing in all the definitions of guilt that i read, or more, stood out oddly, was that guilt may be 'unreal' in a way, an individual can feel bad without legitimate cause.

the latter definition was always begun by describing shame as something that is painful

also noted was that shame can be felt from the actions of others while guilt always seems to be exculsive to the individual of said action of fault.


since this is for a religion class, i am bringin out the bible.
i was raised catholic and i did not learn about infamous 'catholic guilt' until i was seventeen, one of my middleaged coworkers told me that that was what i was experiencing after i explained some teenage conumdrum to him.

somehow, i really seem to only experience shame, in what i believe to percieve in these words. yet i do hold a sense of guilt for not having guilt in situations where it is appropriate to feel lousy at ones overall behavior. yet, since i have managed to keep some things hidden, i feel no shame in the public eye.