Cultivation Of Compassion Research Articles

PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES OF SECULAR PROGRAMS OF COMPASSION TRAINING

The article discusses key meditation-based programs aimed at nurturing and training the ability to empathize. Historically, these programs have been drawn to Buddhist teachings and traditional meditation practices, but in the process of adapting to global world and a secular context, they separate themselves from religion. In the process of research, I try to demonstrate the importance of these methods for philosophy, ethics and education, since the cultivation of compassion helps to better and more deeply understand the nature of a person, motivation and improve social interaction. Important for the modern world can be not only the therapeutic effect of the mentioned methods, but also their application in the field of philosophy. Although the vectors of Buddhism as religion and humanistic ethics may differ, they seek to improve the quality of human life, develop compassion, respect, trust to the world, and complement each other in conditions of environmental, social, and psychological crisis. For Ukraine, methods of compassion training are very important in the context of war and post-war healing of society. Education in general, and philosophical education in particular, will need a wide range of tools for healing collective trauma, returning to oneself, finding the home of being.

Illusory authenticity: Negotiating compassion in animal experimentation discourse

Society’s compassion towards nonhuman animals used in experimentation has grown exponentially. This paper adopts critical discourse analysis to examine how the animal experimentation industry negotiates this societal moral response. To this end, the discourse of the largest animal experimentation interest group in Spain has been studied. Our findings show that the industry, as represented by this interest group, does not negotiate compassion with authenticity but rather creates an illusion of it through opportunistic lexical choices and suppressions, including contradictions and incongruities. We conclude by defining such a discourse as illusory authenticity, a discourse with which the industry conveniently frames itself as altruistic and concerned about animal suffering while at the same time discouraging the public’s cultivation of compassion towards nonhuman animal suffering. This is done by means of perpetuating a logic that frames nonhuman animals as inferior beings whose existence is at the service of humanity.

The efficacy of compassion training programmes for healthcare professionals: a systematic review and meta-analysis

AbstractContinuous exposure to the suffering and death of patients produces certain syndromes such as compassion fatigue in health professionals. The objective of this study was to analyze the effect and the effectiveness of interventions based on mindfulness, aimed at training or cultivating compassion or self-compassion in compassion fatigue, self-compassion, compassion, and compassion satisfaction of health professionals. A systematic review is reported in line with the PRISMA guideline and was registered in PROSPERO. The PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO and CINAHL databases were used. Interventions based on compassion training or cultivation were selected, aimed at health professionals. A meta-analysis was performed using a random-effects model. The effect size and hetereogeneity of the studies were calculated. Eight articles were selected. Among the programmes for the cultivation of compassion we highlight Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT), Mindfulness and Self-Compassion (MSC), Compassionate Meditation (CM), and Loving Kindness Meditation (LKM). The interventions decreased compassion fatigue and increased compassion, self-compassion, and compassion satisfaction in healthcare professionals. Compassion fatigue in healthcare professionals is due to a deficit in empathic and compassionate skills. Health systems should incorporate programmes based on the cultivation of compassion and self-compassion in order to improve the work conditions and quality of life of health professionals.

Compassion in health professionals: Development and validation of the Capacity for Compassion Scale.

Health professionals witness pain and suffering when they care for sick people and their families. Compassion is a necessary quality in their work as it combines the will to help, alleviate suffering and promote the well-being of both the people they are attending and the professionals themselves. The aim of the study was to design and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Capacity for Compassion Scale (CCS). A quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out to evaluate the psychometric properties of the scale (reliability, temporal stability, content validity, criterion validity and construct validity). The study was carried out in two phases: pilot study and final validation. The data were collected between April and May 2022. The sample was selected by convenience sampling and was made up of a total of 264 participants, 59 in the pilot phase and 205 in the final validation. The Capacity for Compassion Scale has been shown to have good psychometric properties in relation to reliability, temporal stability, and content, criterion, and construct validity. Factor analysis showed that there were four subdimensions of the scale: motivation/commitment, presence, shared humanity and self-compassion. The results also indicate that compassionate ability is significantly correlated with age and work experience. The Capacity for Compassion Scale shows adequate psychometric properties. This instrument measures the compassion capacity of health professionals, which is a valuable discovery for new lines of research in this field. Through this scale, low levels of capacity for compassion can be detected that negatively influence the quality of care provided by health professionals. The Capacity for Compassion Scale can therefore contribute to the identification of needs and promote training around compassion for health professionals. No patient or public contribution. WHAT PROBLEM DID THE STUDY ADDRESS?: Compassion in health professionals has positive effects on improving the quality of care, the satisfaction of professionals and the work environment. There are compassion cultivation programmes whose validity has been proven for the development of the dimensions of compassion. There is no specific instrument that measures capacity for compassion in healthcare professionals. WHAT WERE THE MAIN FINDINGS?: A scale is designed to measure capacity for compassion in health professionals. This is the only such scale available up until now. The scale measures four dimensions of compassion: motivation/commitment, presence, shared humanity and self-compassion. WHERE AND ON WHOM WILL THE RESEARCH HAVE AN IMPACT?: The development of specific programmes that can increase the compassion of health professionals with all the benefits that this can bring to health care is encouraged. It will be possible to analyse the effects of training programmes on the cultivation of compassion.

Compassion as a Skill: A Comparison of Contemplative and Evolution-Based Approaches

AbstractThe editors to this volume posed a series of fascinating questions relating to how seeing compassion as a skill can help us understand its nature, cultivation and effects within secular contexts. This paper addresses these questions by comparing evolutionary with contemplative approaches to compassion. Recent scientific approaches have explored the evolved roots and biopsychosocial manifestations of compassion and their impact on mental states and prosocial behaviour, particularly in regard to both its facilitators and inhibitors. In contrast, we discuss how the contemplative traditions have approached the origins and cultivation of compassion through observing the mind (e.g. meditation), with a focus on gaining insight into self-transcendent experiences, the nature of inter-connectivity and non-separate existence (also referred to as non-duality), through which compassion arises naturally. Both evolutionary and contemplative perspectives have the same focus which is to understand and prevent the causes of suffering, including the suffering we cause ourselves because of our harmful potentials. However, in terms of training the mind in compassion skills, this paper considers how training approaches linked to the evolutionary model often use thinking, empathising, reflecting and guided behaviour change to activate psychophysiological systems linked to caring and compassion. In contrast, the contemplative traditions focus less on thinking and reflecting and more on creating conditions for direct experiencing. A key reason for doing so is to settle the mind so that subtler levels of consciousness can enable the experience of self-transcendent compassion to arise. Thus, both evolutionary and contemplative approaches can focus on developing mind awareness and the importance of practise, but evolutionary approaches such as compassion focused therapy do not pursue transcendent wisdoms or insights.

Discovering compassion in medical training: a qualitative study with curriculum leaders, educators, and learners.

Compassion is considered a fundamental human capacity instrumental to the creation of medicine and for patient-centered practice and innovations in healthcare. However, instead of nurturing and cultivating institutional compassion, many healthcare providers cite the health system itself as a direct barrier to standard care. The trend of compassion depletion begins with medical students and is often attributed to the culture of undergraduate medical training, where students experience an increased risk of depression, substance use, and suicidality. This qualitative study aims to develop a more comprehensive understanding of compassion as it relates to undergraduate medical education. We used focus groups with key stakeholders in medical education to characterize beliefs about the nature of compassion and to identify perceived barriers and facilitators to compassion within their daily responsibilities as educators and students. Researchers conducted a series of virtual (Zoom) focus groups with stakeholders: Students (N = 14), Small Group Advisors (N = 11), and Medical Curriculum Leaders (N = 4). Transcripts were thematically analyzed using MAXQDA software. Study participants described compassion as being more than empathy, demanding action, and capable of being cultivated. Stakeholders identified self-care, life experiences, and role models as facilitators. The consistently identified barriers to compassion were time constraints, culture, and burnout. Both medical students and those training them agreed on a general definition of compassion and that there are ways to cultivate more of it in their daily professional lives. They also agreed that undergraduate medical education - and the healthcare culture at large - does not deliberately foster compassion and may be directly contributing to its degradation by the content and pedagogies emphasized, the high rates of burnout and futility, and the overwhelming time constraints. Intentional instruction in and cultivation of compassion during undergraduate medical education could provide a critical first step for undergirding the professional culture of healthcare with more resilience and warm-hearted concern. Our finding that medical students and those training them agree about what compassion is and that there are specific and actionable ways to cultivate more of it in their professional lives highlights key changes that will promote a more compassionate training environment conducive to the experience and expression of compassion.

Cultivation of Compassion and Self-understanding: Liberal Education in J. J. Rousseau’s Emile

이 논문의 목적은, 장 자크 루소의 ｢에밀｣ 후반부에 들어있는 동정심의 함양을 위한 인문교육을 검토함으로써, 정서의 함양에 관한 교육적 시사점을 도출하는 데에 있다. ｢에밀｣의 청년기 교육은 동정심의 함양을 목적으로 역사, 철학(종교), 문학을 중심으로 한 인문교육으로 진행된다. 이 부분은 루소 교육이론을 이해하는 데에도, 그리고 교과교육과 정서 함양의 관련을 이해하는 데에도 매우 중요하다. 유소년기에 진행되는 직접적인 경험 위주의 자연교육과 달리, 청년기 교육은 독서를 통해 역사와 철학(종교)과 문학을 배우는 교육이다. 루소가 보기에, 청년기 이후의 본격적인 교육에서 가장 중요한 과제는, 자기애라는 원초적 정념의 힘을 억누르거나 통제하지 않고 이성의 도움을 받아 가능한 한 확장하도록 하는 데에 있다. 이렇게 확장되어 정의의 원리와 일치된 정념이 동정심이다. 그리고 동정심의 함양은, 특정 프로그램이나 훈련의 성과가 아니라, 자신의 자아를 새로운 시각으로 이해하는 인문 교과를 통해 이루어진다. 역사의 가치는 다른 사람의 경험을 자신의 시각으로 판단하는 데에, 철학의 가치는 사물의 질서 속에서 인간의 위치를 조망하는 데에 있으며, 문학과 예술의 가치는 자신의 취향을 일상의 행위 속에서 표현하는 데에 있다. 이렇게 볼 때, 도덕교육에서 정서의 함양은, 개별정서를 겨냥한 특수한 처치가 아니라, 일체의 교과들을 배우면서 얻게 되는 자아의 확장을 통해 가능하다. 이때 교과와 함양된 정서 사이의 관계는 수단-목적의 관계가 아니다. 그것은, 한 사람의 정서는, 교과를 잘 배운 사람이 응당 가질 수밖에 없는 자기이해의 표현이라는 뜻에서의, 필연적 관계이다.The purpose of this thesis is to derive educational implications for the cultivation of emotion by examining the liberal education for the cultivation of compassion in the latter half of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile. Youth education in Emile is conducted as liberal education centered on history, philosophy (religion), and literature for the purpose of cultivating sympathy. This part is very important in understanding Rousseau's educational theory and in understanding the relationship between subject education and emotional cultivation. Unlike nature education which focuses on direct experiences in childhood, youth education is an education that learns history, philosophy (religion), and literature through reading. In Rousseau's view, the most important task in full-fledged education after adolescence is not to suppress or control the power of the primordial passion of self-love(amour de soi), but to expand it as far as possible with the help of reason. The passion thus extended and in accord with the principle of justice is ‘compassion’. And the cultivation of compassion is not the result of a specific program or training, but through humanities subjects that understand one’s self from a new perspective. The value of history lies in judging the experience of others from one's own perspective, the value of philosophy lies in looking at man's place in the order of things, and the value of literature and art lies in expressing one's own tastes in daily activities. It is to express within. From this point of view, the cultivation of emotions in moral education is possible through the expansion of the self obtained while learning all subjects, not through special treatment aimed at individual emotions. At this time, the relationship between subjects and cultivated emotions is not a means-end relationship. It is a necessary relationship in the sense that a person's emotion is an expression of self-understanding that a person who has learned the subject well should have.

Employee Support During COVID-19 Using Compassionate Mind Training

An individual’s wellbeing at work is now recognised as key, particularly for those in challenging environment’s such as health and social care. Focusing on the cultivation of (mindful) compassion has been shown to be an effective way of improving mental health. This service evaluation focused on a pilot drop-in group for council and NHS staff, informed by Compassionate Mind Training. It was facilitated during the COVID-19 pandemic, between April – August 2020. The group was evaluated by recording the number and characteristics of attendees and using a feedback survey focused on the acceptability of the group structure and content. Workload was a barrier to attendance. There were differences noted in terms of gender and area of employment of the attendees. The offer of a regular, short (30 minute) and virtual group during the working day seemed to facilitate participation. The group appeared acceptable as attendees indicated they improved their knowledge and understanding about group concepts and reported they had become more mindful and compassionate in everyday life. Participants appeared to value the range of meditations offered and group resources. The facilitators were struck by the sense of community that emerged. The group could be used in future research as a stand-alone programme to support staff wellbeing or perhaps as one part of a wider approach to support the development compassionate organisations.

Lobbying against compassion: a review of the ethics of persuasion when nonhuman animal suffering is involved

This paper departs from a critical animal studies perspective—that is a perspective critical with speciesist anthropocentrism—in order to problematize public relations by industries harming other animals. To this end, it reviews the ethical and theoretical frameworks raised by critical public relations in order to adopt a critical stance towards what we call here “lobbying against compassion”—the practice of public relations, mainly lobbying, to justify the exploitation of nonhuman animals by some industries. We first examine the role of compassion as a strong motivator for prosocial behaviours as discussed by philosophy and social psychology. Second, we examine compassion towards animals from the lens of public relations and communication. Third, we conduct a literature review to identify the ethical frameworks raised by previous critical public relations literature, which can also be used to justify the cultivation of compassion toward other animals. Finally, we argue that an ethics of persuasion that incorporates compassion towards the suffering of other animals—and therefore avoids endorsing animal suffering—is unavoidable for public relations theory and practice to be ethically reinforced.

Teaching compassion for social accountability: A parallaxic investigation

Background In an arts integrated interdisciplinary study set to investigate ways to improve social accountability (SA) in medical education, our research team has established a renewed understanding of compassion in the current SA movement. Aim This paper explores the co-evolution of compassion and SA. Methods The study used an arts integrated approach to investigate people’s perceptions of SA in four medical schools across Australia, Canada, and the USA. Each school engaged approximately 25 participants who partook in workshops and in-depth interviews. Results We began with a study of SA and the topic of compassion emerged out of our qualitative data and biweekly meetings within the research team. Content analysis of the data and pedagogical discussion brought us to realize the importance of compassion in the practice of SA. Conclusions The cultivation of compassion needs to play a significant role in a socially accountable medical educational system. Medical schools as educational institutions may operate themselves with compassion as a driving force in engaging partnership with students and communities. Social accountability without compassion is not SA; compassion humanizes institutional policy by engaging sympathy and care.

Yogic Principles of Artha and Dāna with Reference to Individual and Corporate Social Responsibility.

A key element of all the Indian systems of philosophy is self-realization, leading to Mokṣa. Yoga, a branch of Indian philosophy, describes the techniques to attain the goal of Kaivalya or Mokṣa. The Puruṣārthas, which are the foundation of human pursuits, combine the spiritual value of Mokṣa with Artha and Kāma worldly requirements, governed by Dharma. Artha is the foundation for two purposes, according to Kauṭilya's Arthaśāstra: Dharma and Kāma. In the absence of affluence and security at society or at the individual level, following ethics and fulfilling desires become difficult. Hardships rear evil and disgust, while affluence rears virtues and love. The Vedic and philosophical traditions advocate wise use of wealth – onself-improvement, economic commotion, and charitable giving (Dāna). Ṛgveda mentions that whatever is given to others selflessly as Dāna returns many times over (Ṛgveda: 1–8). Yoga also specifies the disciplines of Aparigraha (non-hoarding) and Asteya (non-stealing), a balancing act of striking an equilibrium between our desires and virtues. Human beings have one universal duty or Dharma, which is a virtue. By virtue is meant the cultivation of compassion for our fellow beings; an individual social responsibility (ISR) which means to share and coexist with all living beings including insects, animals, etc., If ISR becomes a way of life, then corporate social responsibility will occur by its very nature. Nature follows the principle of “Idam-na-mama” – “this is not mine; it is for collective well-being.” The ocean, sun, stars, moon, wind, trees, etc., perform functions to give to other's welfare not for themselves.

Coping with the COVID-19 pandemic: Contemplative practice behaviors are associated with better mental health outcomes and compliance with shelter-in-place orders in a prospective cohort study.

Psychosocial health can influence the development and experience of several chronic diseases, and has been negatively affected for many individuals amid the COVID-19 global pandemic. To understand the impact of contemplative practices on emotional and mental health during COVID-19, the Stanford WELL for Life Study (US component), incorporated a series of additional surveys into its ongoing study. A total of 1,097 participants residing in California who responded to at least one of three COVID-19 surveys were included in this analysis. Linear and generalized mixed-effects regression models were used to investigate relationships between individual contemplative practice behaviors (CPB) (embodied observing meditation, non-reactive mindfulness meditation, self-compassion cultivation, cultivation of compassion for others) and four psychosocial outcomes measured in the original WELL questionnaire (resilience, dealing with stress, positive emotions, and negative emotions). In addition, the associations between CPB and depression, distress, and compliance with local Shelter-In-Place orders were also investigated. Participants who engaged in any contemplative practice reported significantly more resilience and positive emotions, dealing better with stress, lower distress, and were less likely to report an experience with depression in the last week. Similar findings held when CPB was modeled as a continuous variable. Significant interactions between the duration of the SIP and CPB were also observed for resilience and SIP compliance outcomes, indicating that steeper declines were observed among participants with little or no CPB across the study period. Further investigation into the potential protective benefits of CPB during times of major disruption and uncertainty is warranted.

Pendidikan Demokrasi, Persaudaraan, dan Persatuan Indonesia dalam terang Dokumen Persaudaraan Manusia (2019)

Education is a medium to bring people towards enlightenment. Education is meant to foster students or young people to be able to embrace life with maturity in faith, personal resilience, and sensitivity to social situations, especially changes that happen today. The spirit of national democracy in Indonesia can be realised through values education in schools so that these become material for a character building process. Values internalised in the education comprise of respect, care, acceptance, solidarity, appreciation, and sensitivity to the suffering of others. In being compassionate to the suffering others, students are called to come out of their comfort zones and to get involved with people who suffer and are in need, especially those who are victims of injustice due to the system in the society. The cultivation of human compassion can be carried on by promoting fraternity, that is, through the real encounters with people of different backgrounds, religions, races, and ethnicities. Building human fraternity in education asks that students are fostered to exercise dialogue of life and are given opportunities to encounter others in living communication. Through the real encounters, they may sense the actual changes in the social reality so that education is not limited to scientific achievements, but touches their affective and psychomotor aspects as well.

From Compassion to Self-Compassion: a Text-Historical Perspective

Stand-alone self-compassion or mindful self-compassion, presented independently from the cultivation of other-oriented compassion, has recently emerged as a specific field of secular training and research. Its purported Buddhist background has so far received limited attention in academic scholarship. This article surveys Buddhist precedents—or lack thereof—to the contemporary emergence of this notion. In view of the yet to be established presence of an altruistic component as a psychological corollary of self-compassion, an analysis of the Buddhist sources may offer insights relevant for facilitating future research on the self-other relationship in self-kindness (or self-benevolence) and self-compassion constructs and on altruistic aspects as correlates of self-compassion.

Multiple emotions, multiple selves: compassion focused therapy chairwork

Abstract Compassion focused therapy (CFT) is rooted in an evolutionary view of the human mind as formed of a multitude of contrasting, and often conflicting, motivations, emotions and competencies. A core aim of the therapy is to help clients understand the nature of their mind in a way that is de-pathologizing and de-shaming. The approach is also focused on the cultivation of compassion to work with these difficult aspects of mind. CFT includes the ‘multiple-selves’ intervention which involves the differentiation of threat-based emotion and an exploration of their conflict. Compassion is then applied to the client’s affective world to aid regulation and integration. This paper focuses on clients’ experiences of a chairwork version of multiple-selves, wherein clients personify their emotions in separate chairs. Nine participants with depression were interviewed directly following the intervention and the resulting data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Three interconnecting themes were identified: appreciating emotional complexity; the role of chairwork process; and compassionate integration. The results highlight the importance of emotional differentiation in understanding internal multiplicity and conflict in depression, and the role of compassion in creating a sense of personal coherence. The embodied and enactive nature of chairwork was found to be of benefit in identifying and separating emotion, and in developing new forms of self-relating. The paper discusses the clinical implications of such findings for the treatment of depression. Key learning aims As a result of reading this paper, readers should: (1) Learn about the ‘multiple-selves’ framework for working with threat emotions. (2) Appreciate the complexity of emotions in depression. (3) Understand how chairwork processes can be used to access, differentiate and address emotional material. (4) Develop insight into how compassion can be used to regulate emotions and integrate aversive experiences.

Compassion: From Its Evolution to a Psychotherapy.

The concept, benefits and recommendations for the cultivation of compassion have been recognized in the contemplative traditions for thousands of years. In the last 30 years or so, the study of compassion has revealed it to have major physiological and psychological effects influencing well-being, addressing mental health difficulties, and promoting prosocial behavior. This paper outlines an evolution informed biopsychosocial, multicomponent model to caring behavior and its derivative “compassion” that underpins newer approaches to psychotherapy. The paper explores the origins of caring motives and the nature and biopsychosocial functions of caring-attachment behavior. These include providing a secure base (sources of protection, validation, encouragement and guidance) and safe haven (source of soothing and comfort) for offspring along with physiological regulating functions, which are also central for compassion focused therapy. Second, it suggests that it is the way recent human cognitive competencies give rise to different types of “mind awareness” and “knowing intentionality” that transform basic caring motives into potentials for compassion. While we can care for our gardens and treasured objects, the concept of compassion is only used for sentient beings who can “suffer.” As psychotherapy addresses mental suffering, cultivating the motives and competencies of compassion to self and others can be a central focus for psychotherapy.

Cultivating Compassion 慈: A Daoist Perspective

The purpose of this paper is to make a contribution to our working knowledge, practice and pedagogy of compassion through consideration of a Daoist perspective on the matter. I begin with a consideration of Daoist cosmology and a sage’s compassion drawn primarily from the Daodejing, This serves as a backdrop to consider Daoist contemplative pedagogy for the cultivation of virtue and compassion. Consistent with Daoist practices which rely on exemplars as a means of inspiring others I justify considering Nelson Mandela an exemplar of compassion. I then discuss how his life lines up with the Daoist conception of compassion. Finally I discuss the practicalities of developing compassion along with other virtues in post-secondary business ethics education classes. These classes work with the following principles: starting small, self- compassion, person to person connections and relationship. Students engage in emotional intelligence activities including: exercises to know their purpose or calling, meditative exercises that help them become aware of their emotions, and structured interpersonal interaction challenging them to develop new social skills. While this work is in its early stages it appears to assist students in developing compassion for others.

Psychometric properties of the German version of the fears of compassion scales.

The cultivation of compassion is associated with beneficial effects on physical and psychological health, satisfaction with life and social relationships. However, some individuals, especially those high in psychopathological symptoms or those with particular disorders such as borderline personality disorder (BPD) may demonstrate pronounced fears of engagement in compassionate experiences or behaviours. Furthermore, fears of compassion have been found to impede progress in psychotherapy. The 38-item fears of compassion scales (FCS) is a self-report questionnaire for measuring trait levels of fears of compassion (a) one receives from others (FCFO), (b) one feels towards others (FCTO) and (c) one feels for oneself (self-compassion; FSC). The FCS is an internationally used instrument of proven validity and reliability in both clinical and nonclinical samples. In the present study, a German translation of the FCS including its three subscales was provided, and the psychometric properties were examined in 430 participants from four different samples: (a) a sample from the general population; (b) a mixed sample of psychiatric residential and outpatients; (c) a clinical sample of residential and outpatients with a primary diagnosis of BPD and (d) a sample of healthy control participants. Internal consistencies were excellent for the German version of the FSC and acceptable to excellent for its subscales. Correlations with established measures of mental health demonstrate its validity. Additionally, the German FCS discriminates significantly between individuals from the general population and patients, thus supporting its specificity. The German FCS is suitable to detect potential obstacles in cultivating compassion in psychotherapeutic treatments and beyond.

Recovering the Relational Starting Point of Compassion Training: A Foundation for Sustainable and Inclusive Care

The cultivation of compassion through meditation training is of increasing interest to scientists, health-care providers, educators, and policymakers as an approach to help address challenging personal and social issues. Yet people encounter critical inner psychological barriers to compassion that limit the effectiveness of compassion training—including the lack of a secure base, aversion to suffering, feeling alone in suffering, and reductive impressions of others. These barriers emerge, in part, from a lack of relational support and are exacerbated by modernist conceptions that present meditation as an autonomous, self-help practice. This article proposes a solution centered on relationality that is derived from the integration of diverse areas of psychology with contemplative traditions. Theories and findings from social, developmental, and health psychology can inform meditation programs and help recover important relational elements of compassion training from traditional cultures that address common barriers to compassion and thus promote more sustainable and inclusive care. In so doing, this article illustrates the value of psychological theories for translating important contextual elements from contemplative traditions into diverse modern settings.

Stressed, depressed, and rank obsessed: Individual differences in compassion and neuroticism predispose towards rank-based depressive symptomatology.

As social creatures, we monitor our relative rank and/or status with others via social comparisons. Whilst research has identified perceptions of inferiority or 'low rank' relative to others is a robust predictor of depressive, anxious, and stress symptomology, to date individual differences have been ignored. We wish to provide empirical evidence to outline how differences across personality traits may interact with social rank variables to buffer or predispose towards depressive symptomology. Across three independent samples (N=595), we replicated a social rank model of mental health, and with our third sample (N=200), we sought to investigate attenuating roles for neuroticism versus compassion with multiple moderated regression models. Neuroticism predicted greater levels of rank-associated depression, and compassion failed to function as a protective factor for rank-associated depression. However, a closer inspection of the original Big-5 factor structure positions this scale as a measure of 'interpersonal submissiveness' or 'conflict appeasement' rather than genuine compassion. Whilst it is necessary to delineate the conditions where compassion is appropriate and able to lead to positive mental health outcomes, we argue this cannot be addressed with the Big-5 measure of trait compassion. We call for future work to consider valid and reliable measures for compassion, such as the self-compassion scale, submissive compassion scale, and fears of compassion scale, to more fully address how compassion may protect against both rank-based comparisons and severity of depression. Social rank mechanisms are robustly implicated in depression, anxiety, and stress. Clients who present as higher in neuroticism, inferiority, or submissiveness may be more prone towards rank-associated depression symptoms. Preliminary evidence suggests cultivation of genuine compassion can shift clients from a rank-focussed to a compassionate-focussed mentality, which aids mental health and fosters well-being.