An Exploration of Compassion Focused Therapy for Grieving Individuals

Abstract

In the past several decades, new understandings about grief have emerged. In the same time frame, a substantial body of literature has explored the components of compassion and their potential application to various clinical contexts. Compassion evolved from caring motivation associated with the evolutionary challenges of reproduction that involved the necessary care for offspring. Grief also has an evolutionary background that is rooted in core aspects of attachment and the assumptive world construct. Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) translates the concepts of compassion into a form of therapy, which has the potential to address grief in an experiential and non-pathologizing way. Foundational components of CFT include a model of emotion regulation, experiential practices that enhance compassion-based responses, and the cultivation of wisdom and discernment regarding the nature of suffering. These aspects of CFT provide a uniquely oriented way to support those who grieve losses of all types. Compassion training enables clinicians to cultivate wisdom and discernment to accompany their intention and motivation to relieve suffering, including the grief that follows significant losses.