Abstract
Self-compassion is a newly developed construct in the field of positive psychology while a plethora of studies highlighted its beneficial outcomes on people’s psychological prosperity. This study aimed to explore the effectiveness of a self-compassion training program on self-compassion, positive and negative affect, depression, anxiety, stress, life satisfaction and subjective happiness as well as to contribute to knowledge by investigating whether changes in self-compassion can significantly predict changes in aspects of well being. A sample of 74 students of Social Sciences is randomly assigned to either the intervention (N = 33) or a control group (N = 41). The intervention group participated in a psycho-educational training program aiming to teach them how to be more self-compassionate in challenging situations whilst the control group received no training. The results showed that the intervention group experienced increases in self-compassion, positive affect, life satisfaction as well as subjective happiness and decreases in negative affect, depression, anxiety and stress scores, compared to the control group which reported no changes. These findings suggest the vital role self-compassion plays on psychological well-being and the effectiveness of focused intervention programs. Other possible implications and recommendations for future research are also considered.
Highlights
The construct of compassion to oneself, is derived from Buddhist philosophy, was introduced in Psychology in the last decade and has been recently gathering growing research interest
This study aimed to explore the effectiveness of a self-compassion training program on self-compassion, positive and negative affect, depression, anxiety, stress, life satisfaction and subjective happiness as well as to contribute to knowledge by investigating whether changes in self-compassion can significantly predict changes in aspects of well being
The results showed that the intervention group experienced increases in self-compassion, positive affect, life satisfaction as well as subjective happiness and decreases in negative affect, depression, anxiety and stress scores, compared to the control group which reported no changes
Summary
The construct of compassion to oneself (or self-compassion), is derived from Buddhist philosophy, was introduced in Psychology in the last decade and has been recently gathering growing research interest. Self-compassion involves being kind, warm and standing with understanding toward oneself when one suffers, fails or feels inadequate, rather than criticizing and blaming oneself or ignoring the pain and negative feelings (Neff, 2003a, b). As Armstrong (as cited in Germer, 2009) emphasized, mindfulness refers to “knowing what you are experiencing while you are experiencing it”. In other words, it is the open state of mind in which the person observes negative emotions the way they are without denying or repressing them
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