There are many things which have received a bad rap unjustly. Certainly shame is one of them. This is a shame. LOL. Shame serves the same purpose for individuals and society, restoring health (mental in this case) as certain medical processes which seek to restore health (physical in this case).

One of the unfortunate occurrences of the last century has been the attack on shame, portraying it as a negative and antiquated (Victorian) notion instead of an important and useful tool for maintaining a civil and cohesive society.

The loss of its use has contributed to things like out of wedlock births. Notice I said 'contributed to'. It may not have been the only cause, but it was a certainly much more than correlation.