Compassion Focused Therapy to Counteract Shame, Self-Criticism and Isolation. A Replicated Single Case Experimental Study for Individuals With Social Anxiety

Abstract

Most forms of psychological distress encompass both the relation to the self in the form of shame and self-criticism, as well as the relation to others in the form of distance and isolation. These are often longstanding and pervasive problems that permeate a wide range of psychological disorders and are difficult to treat. This paper focuses on how problems with shame and self-criticism can be addressed using compassion focused therapy (CFT). In a pilot study we tested the effectiveness of CFT with a single case experimental design in six individuals suffering from social anxiety. The aim was to establish whether CFT lead to increases in self-compassion, and reductions in shame, self-criticism and social anxiety. Moreover, the aim was to investigate to what extent participants were satisfied and experienced CFT as helpful in coping with social anxiety and in increasing self-compassion. Taken together the preliminary results show that CFT is a promising approach. CFT was effective for 3 of 6 participants, probably effective for 1 of 6 and more questionably effective for 2 of 6 participants. These results add to the empirical evidence that CFT is a promising approach to address problems with self-compassion. This research body is as of yet small, and more studies are needed.