Abstract
Mindfulness has been proposed as an effective tool for regulating negative emotions and emotional disorders. However, little is known about the relationship between mindfulness and shame. The purpose of the current study was to investigate associations between mindfulness, self-compassion, and shame. One-hundred and fifty-nine participants completed the Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, the Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form, and the Experience of Shame Scale. As expected, both mindfulness and self-compassion were negatively correlated with the experience of shame. In addition, self-compassion was found to fully mediate the relationship between mindfulness and shame. In an effort to explore this relationship further, the associations between specific facets of mindfulness (e.g., observing, describing, acting with awareness, non-reactivity, and non-judgment) and shame were examined. Results showed that the non-judgment facet remains a significant predictor of shame even after controlling for self-compassion. These findings highlight the negative self-evaluative nature of shame, suggesting that shamed individuals may benefit most from interventions that foster non-judgment attitudes toward feelings and thoughts.
Highlights
Shame is undoubtedly one of the unpleasant emotions experienced occasionally by many (B. Brown, 2010)
We aimed to explore the associations between specific facets of mindfulness, self-compassion, and shame and to investigate whether mindfulness’ facets add incremental predictive power after controlling for self-compassion
We used a different measure to evaluate the experience of shame, our findings were consistent with previous results (Barnard & Curry, 2012; Mosewich et al, 2011), and indicated that shame was negatively associated with self-compassion
Summary
Shame is undoubtedly one of the unpleasant emotions experienced occasionally by many (B. Brown, 2010). In this regard, interesting results were found by Kelly, Zuroff, and Shapira (2009) These authors reported that acne sufferers who engaged in self-compassion exercises, such as visualizing a compassionate and accepting image and writing a self-compassionate letter to themselves, showed a reduced level of shame experiences. In a similar vein, Woods and Proeve (2014) investigated the association between mindfulness, self-compassion, shame, and guilt-proneness in a cross-sectional study in a non-clinical population They reported a negative association between mindfulness and self-compassion with shame. Hollis-Walker and Colosimo (2011), in a cross-sectional study, found that self-compassion partially mediated the relationship between mindfulness and psychological well-being These authors have suggested that “mindfulness cultivates a compassionate attitude, which in turn safeguards against the pernicious effects of negative feelings such as guilt and selfcriticism, and facilitates well-being” One could be mindfully aware of painful thoughts and feelings without comforting and calming the self
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
