The Silvan S. Tomkins Institute has the mission to teach whoever we can that awareness of affect has been seriously limited by the absence of a proper theory of affect which has caused affect to remain mostly invisible much of the time. Certainly you are right that Socratic method could work in a fashion that does not elicit shame. I do indeed need to learn from Henry about his use of the technique to determine whether he does avoid shame. Much of what has been called resistance is actually shame defense, very often triggered by the technique or interactive style of the therapist. If he did, then he triggered shame in the other, which may or may not have been his intent.
Personality is an important concept in affect theory.
Thus, one could have a particular script that is causing symptoms and needs to be changed. Successful alteration of such a script would reduce symptomatology such that the person would no longer feel the need for therapy. In other words, the concept of core personality is terribly complex and probably something that is more in the eye of the beholder than something that can be defined in a universally agreed upon way.