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Self and Identity, 2018
This paper presents two studies focusing on the link between psychological functioning and self-compassion as measured by the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS), especially in terms of SCS components that represent increased compassionate and reduced uncompassionate behavior. Study One examined this association in seven domains-psychopathology, positive psychological health, emotional intelligence, self-concept, body image, motivation, and interpersonal functioning-and found that while reduced negative self-responding had a stronger link to negative emotionality and self-evaluation than positive self-responding, they were roughly equivalent predictors in other domains. Study Two examined the association of compassionate and reduced uncompassionate behavior with sympathetic nervous system and inflammatory activity after stress, and found they equally predicted salivary alpha amylase and interleukin-6 levels in individuals after a stressful situation. Overall, results suggest that both compassionate and reduced uncompassionate self-responding are central to self-compassion and that both help to explain its link to healthy psychological functioning. Self-compassion is proposed to be a healthy way of relating to oneself in times of suffering, whether suffering is caused by failure, perceived inadequacy, or general life difficulties. As defined by Neff (2003b), self-compassion represents the balance between increased positive and decreased negative self-responding to personal struggle. Self-compassion entails being kinder and more supportive toward oneself and less harshly judgmental. It involves greater recognition of the shared human experience, understanding that all humans are imperfect and lead imperfect lives, and fewer feelings of being isolated by one's imperfection. It entails mindful awareness of personal suffering, and ruminating less about negative aspects of oneself or one's life experience. Over the last few years, research on self-compassion has
Self-Compassion in Clinical Samples: A Systematic Literature Review
Psychology, 2020
Self-compassion, broadly, means to treat oneself kindly in times of need, same as one would do with a dear friend (Neff, 2003b). This systematic review focuses on self-compassion as is found in clinical samples. It specifically reviews 28 relevant studies to find out if people belonging in what is called "clinical samples" have lower levels of self-compassion than those of non-clinical samples in the first place and if this is a crucial factor for the appearance of psychopathological symptoms (i.e. anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, PTSD, depression, schizophrenia etc.), or it is the other way around. Even though most studies tend to agree that low self-compassion and psychopathology are present in clinical samples, no study until now can prove a clause for causality, as most studies were of a cross-sectional design and had a great heterogeneity concerning both mental health issues involved and ages/genders. Future studies could use additional mediators to check out how low self-compassion and mental health are connected. Another question to be asked is if self-compassion is equally important for one's recovery as it is for the prevention of appearance of mental illness. The systematic review highlights issues from the current evidence that may be used for further research.
Review Study on Self-compassion and Its Place in Psychological Health
2019
Background: Self-compassion is a construct of mental health that facilitates acceptance and understanding without judgment of difficult mental conditions. It is also effective in creating positive emotions and improving mental well-being. Objectives: The aim of this study is to review the concept of self-compassion in psychological health. Materials and Methods: In this review study, the international and Persian databases, such as MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library, SID, PubMed, and ProQuest were searched by "title search method". Articles were surveyed without a time limit, using the keywords of "self-compassion" and "psychological health". The articles containing inclusion criteria were separately selected, reviewed, and analyzed. To extract the data, the final articles included in the process of the study were extracted based on a premade checklist. Results: Out of 54 articles, 48 were excluded because of ignoring the relationship between the "self-compassion" and "psychological health", as well as lacking a tool for controlling the psychological health and repetitiveness. Finally, 6 articles with the mentioned features were included in the study. Most review studies have shown that self-compassion increases psychological health and promotes well-being. Conclusion: As a positive construct, self-compassion includes self-kindness, social relationships, and mindfulness, and it is effective in promoting psychological health.
Self‐Compassion, Stress, and Coping
Social and personality psychology …, 2010
People who are high in self-compassion treat themselves with kindness and concern when they experience negative events. The present article examines the construct of self-compassion from the standpoint of research on coping in an effort to understand the ways in which people who are high in self-compassion cope with stressful events. Self-compassionate people tend to rely heavily on positive cognitive restructuring but do not appear to differ from less self-compassionate people in the degree to which they cope through problem-solving and distraction. Existing evidence does not show clear differences in the degree to which people who are low vs. high in self-compassion seek support as a coping strategy, but more research is needed.
Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 2010
Objectives. The objectiveofthis study was to explore the meaning and experiences of compassion and self-compassion for individuals with depression and anxiety. Design. An interpretative phenomenological analysis(IPA) epistemology and methodologyw erea dopted as the study was focused on understanding the meaning and experiences of participants towards self-compassion from existing theory. Methods. Te nparticipants wereselected based on a Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders ,4th ed.-text revision diagnosis of depression or an anxiety disorder. Individuals weree xcluded from this study if they had additional diagnoses which impacted significantly on their disorder or on ethical grounds if participation was seen as psychologically distressing. Participants completed as emi-structured intervieww ith questions were based on existing self-compassion research. Interviewsl asted an hour and were analysed using IPAm ethodology. Results. Participants' reflections suggested that they sawc ompassion having two central qualities: kindness and action. Participants reported that they thought having compassion for themselves felt meaningful in relation to their experiences and useful in helping with their depression or anxiety.H owever, participants reflected that they felt being self-compassionate would be difficult either because the concept itself felt challenging to enact or their experience of psychological disorder had negatively impacted on their ability to be self-compassionate. Conclusions. Participants' positiveperceptions of self-compassion offer encouragement to clinicians as it appears people can connect with the concept meaningfully as wellasseeing it as being useful. Clinicians focusing on self-compassion maygain greater efficacy when they incorporate both aspects within interventions. Findings about the difficulties associated with self-compassion provide valuable information as to why people find it difficult to adopt which can be used in the development of future clinical interventions.
Development and preliminary validation of the Brief Self-Compassion Inventory
PLOS ONE, 2023
Research and clinical interest in self-compassion has grown due to its associations with physical and mental health benefits. Widely used measures of self-compassion have conceptual and psychometric limitations that warrant attention. The purpose of this project was to develop a new self-compassion measure, the Brief Self-Compassion Inventory (BSCI), and test its psychometric properties. We developed items for the BSCI based on theory, prior research, and expert and cancer patient feedback. The BSCI was then tested with adults diagnosed with breast, gastrointestinal, lung, or prostate cancer (N = 404). Confirmatory factor analysis suggested a unidimensional structure, and internal consistency reliability was excellent. Construct validity of the BSCI was established through its correlations with psychological variables hypothesized to be related to self-compassion, such as mindfulness, acceptance of cancer, and other coping strategies. Furthermore, measurement invariance testing of the BSCI indicated that it could be used across patients of varying genders, cancer types, and stages of illness. In conclusion, the 5-item BSCI was determined to be psychometrically sound and suitable for use with adults of varying genders, cancer types, and stages of disease. The measure warrants testing with other medical and nonclinical populations.
Meta-Analysis of Gender Differences in Self-Compassion
Self and Identity, 2015
While research suggests strong associations of self-compassion with mental health and well-being, gender norms may hinder the development of self-compassion by women on one hand, and men on the other. This study represents one of the first systematic analyses of potential gender differences in self-compassion using meta-analytic techniques, including whether such gender differences are moderated by age or ethnic minority status. Fixed-effects models were used to estimate the average effect size (ES) of gender differences in self-compassion scores across 71 journal articles and dissertations providing a total of 88 estimates. Results revealed that males had slightly higher levels of self-compassion than females, with a small ES observed (d ¼ .18). This difference was larger in samples with a higher percentage of ethnic minorities. Researchers and practitioners should take these group differences into account in future studies and interventions focused on self-compassion, while not overemphasizing gender differences in self-compassion as being large in size.
The Relationship Between Self-Compassion and Well-Being: A Meta-Analysis
Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 2015
Background: Self-compassion describes a positive and caring attitude of a person toward her-or himself in the face of failures and individual shortcomings. As a result of this caring attitude, individuals high in self-compassion are assumed to experience higher individual well-being. The present meta-analysis examines the relationship between self-compassion and different forms of wellbeing. Method: The authors combined k = 79 samples, with an overall sample size of N = 16,416, and analyzed the central tendencies of effect sizes (Pearson correlation coefficients) with a random-effect model. Results: We found an overall magnitude of the relationship between self-compassion and well-being of r = .47. The relationship was stronger for cognitive and psychological well-being compared to affective well-being. Sample characteristics and self-esteem were tested as potential moderators. In addition, a subsample of studies indicated a causal effect of self-compassion on well-being. Conclusions: The results clearly highlight the importance of self-compassion for individuals' well-being. Future research should further investigate the relationship between self-compassion and the different forms of well-being, and focus on the examination of possible additional moderators.