Compassion-Focused Therapy to Reduce Body Weight Shame for Individuals With Obesity: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Adults living in larger bodies (Body Mass Index > 30) often experience body weight shame, are highly self-critical, and are at increased risk for anxiety and depression. To date, there have been no RCTs examining the efficacy of Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) to help those experiencing body weight shame. The aim of the current study was to investigate the efficacy of CFT as a 12-session group intervention to reduce body weight shame for individuals living in larger bodies.

The interplay between therapeutic relationship and therapeutic technique: The whole is more than the sum of its parts.

The interplay between the therapeutic relationship and experiential techniques is powerful. The whole is more than the sum of its parts. Therapeutic relationship predicts therapy outcomes, especially when this involves shared goals, agreed methods, and a strong interpersonal bond.

Improvements in Compassion and Fears of Compassion throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multinational Study.

During large-scale disasters, social support, caring behaviours, and compassion are shown to protect against poor mental health outcomes. This multi-national study aimed to assess the fluctuations in compassion over time during the COVID-19 pandemic. Respondents (Time 1 = 4156, Time 2 = 980, Time 3 = 825) from 23 countries completed online self-report questionnaires measuring the flows of compassion (i.

Compassionate mind training for ex-service personnel with PTSD and their partners.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a significant issue for a substantial proportion of Australian ex-service personnel. In addition to the functional impact on individuals, PTSD can have a significant impact on intimate partner relationships. Research has demonstrated that practicing compassion and self-compassion may be an important component of psychological therapy for survivors of trauma, while also demonstrating benefits to intimate relationships.

Never underestimate fears, blocks, and resistances: The interplay between experiential practices, self-conscious emotions, and the therapeutic relationship in compassion focused therapy.

Experiential practices are a core component of compassion focused therapy (CFT). Throughout the treatment process, the client's engagement with these practices may become blocked, resulting in a rupture in the therapeutic relationship. In these instances, the interplay between these experiential practices and the therapeutic relationship becomes an essential focus of therapy to repair the rupture, re-engage the client in the therapeutic process, and proceed with the CFT treatment plan.

Compassion Protects Mental Health and Social Safeness During the COVID-19 Pandemic Across 21 Countries.

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic is having an unprecedented detrimental impact on mental health in people around the world. It is important therefore to explore factors that may buffer or accentuate the risk of mental health problems in this context. Given that compassion has numerous benefits for mental health, emotion regulation, and social relationships, this study examines the buffering effects of different flows of compassion (for self, for others, from others) against the impact of perceived threat of COVID-19 on depression, anxiety, and stress, and social safeness.

The role of social connection on the experience of COVID-19 related post-traumatic growth and stress.

Background: Historically social connection has been an important way through which humans have coped with large-scale threatening events. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns have deprived people of major sources of social support and coping, with others representing threats. Hence, a major stressor during the pandemic has been a sense of social disconnection and loneliness.

Fears of compassion magnify the harmful effects of threat of COVID-19 on mental health and social safeness across 21 countries.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is a massive global health crisis with damaging consequences to mental health and social relationships. Exploring factors that may heighten or buffer the risk of mental health problems in this context is thus critical. Whilst compassion may be a protective factor, in contrast fears of compassion increase vulnerability to psychosocial distress and may amplify the impact of the pandemic on mental health.

"You are already all you need to be": A case illustration of compassion-focused therapy for shame and perfectionism.

This paper presents the case of a 28-year-old woman diagnosed with major depressive disorder, with strong features of perfectionism, shame, and self-criticism, treated via 12 sessions of compassion-focused therapy (CFT). CFT is an integrative therapeutic approach that draws upon evolutionary psychology, attachment theory, and applied psychological processes from neuroscience, clinical and social psychology. The effectiveness of compassion focused approaches with perfectionism and self-criticism across a range of clinical disorders is becoming increasingly well-established.

Comparing the Effects of Loving-Kindness Meditation (LKM), Music and LKM Plus Music on Psychological Well-Being.

Loving-kindness meditation (LKM), a meditative practice directing caring feelings toward self and others, is a popular, evidence-base approach to increasing well-being. Music listening is also a popular form of emotion regulation used to enhance well-being. This interdisciplinary study evaluated a novel intervention called Convergence-combining LKM with accompanying classical guitar music-and its effects on adults' well-being, mindfulness, compassion and self-compassion outcomes.

Perspectives on Self-Compassion From Adult Female Survivors of Sexual Abuse and the Counselors Who Work With Them.

While compassion-focused therapy (CFT) holds significant promise as an intervention for survivors of sexual abuse, a history of abuse can uniquely impact an individual's capacity to cultivate compassion and may generate a fear of compassion. Understanding the specific perspectives of sexual abuse survivors may inform the application of CFT-based interventions with this client group. Two separate focus groups were established for this purpose, one with adult female survivors of sexual abuse ( = 7) and another with sexual abuse counselors ( = 7).

Compassion-Focused Therapy as an Intervention for Adult Survivors of Sexual Abuse.

Child sexual abuse can have long-term negative impacts across psychological, physical, and interpersonal domains. Some of the common issues for survivors of sexual abuse include shame and self-blame, attachment-based difficulties, avoidant coping strategies, and reduced capacity for self-compassion. Compassion-focused therapy is a transdiagnostic intervention that specifically responds to these concerns.

A Meta-Analysis of Compassion-Based Interventions: Current State of Knowledge and Future Directions.

Objective: Scientific research into compassion has burgeoned over the past 20 years and interventions aiming to cultivate compassion towards self and others have been developed. This meta-analysis examined the effects of compassion-based interventions on a range of outcome measures.

Method: Twenty-one randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from the last 12 years were included in the meta-analysis, with data from 1,285 participants analyzed.

Hazardous alcohol use and treatment outcome in male combat veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder.

The relationship between alcohol problems and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) remains unclear. Six hundred and eight combat veterans diagnosed with PTSD were assessed for PTSD symptoms and alcohol problems prior to group cognitive-behavioral treatment. They were reassessed 3 and 9 months after treatment.