Self-compassion involves being kind to oneself when challenged with personal weaknesses or hardship and has been claimed to be associated with resilience in various areas. So far, there are only a handful of studies that investigate self-compassion and its relation to clinical depression. Therefore, the principal goals of the present study were (a) to compare self-compassion in clinically depre...

BACKGROUND Previous cross-sectional studies suggest that self-compassion and depressive symptoms are consistently negatively associated. Although it is often implicitly assumed that (a lack of) self-compassion precedes depressive symptoms, so far no study has tested whether (lack of) self-compassion is a cause or a consequence of depressive symptoms, or both. METHOD To examine such reciprocal...

A growing evidence base suggests that increasing self-compassion is a valuable therapeutic target and may protect against the development and maintenance of posttrauma pathology. More recently, clinicians and researchers have noted that particular individuals respond to self-compassion with strong fear and resistance, a phenomenon known as fear of self-compassion. Yet to be examined is if survi...

We examined the relationship between self-compassion and hopelessness depression. The participants were 418 students at a technology college in Hunan, China, who completed questionnaires to measure self-compassion, hopelessness depression, and negative cognitive style. The results showed that self-compassion was negatively associated with both hopelessness depression and negative cognitive styl...

Self-compassion, or the ability to kindly accept oneself while suffering, is a topic of significant and growing scientific interest. Past research has shown, for example, that self-compassion is associated with less concurrent depression. So far, however, it remained untested whether self-compassion also prospectively predicts depression symptoms. Three hundred and forty-seven first-year psycho...

Low self-esteem is usually linked to negative outcomes such as poor mental health, but is this always the case? Based on a contextual behavioural model, we reasoned that self-compassion would weaken the link between low self-esteem and low mental health. Self-compassion involves accepting self-doubt, negative self-evaluations and adversity as part of the human condition. In a longitudinal study...

Although research on positive body image has increased, little research has explored which variables protect body appreciation during body-related threats. Self-compassion may be one such variable. Individuals high in self-compassion are mindful, kind, and nurturing toward themselves during situations that threaten their adequacy, while recognizing that being imperfect is part of "being human."...

The purpose of the present research was to examine the relationships between self-compassion and women's body image. In Study 1, female undergraduates (N=142) completed three measures of body image and measures of self-esteem and self-compassion. Results showed that high self-compassion predicted fewer body concerns independently of self-esteem. Moreover, when both self-compassion and self-este...

Compassion for others and self-compassion are assumed to be closely related concepts. Yet, as they have been mostly studied separately, little is known about their relationship and to what extent they differ or resemble each other with respect to their correlates. This cross-sectional study aimed to gain knowledge on their mean levels, interrelationship, and relationships to psychological well-...

Self-compassion enhances psychological well-being, and compassion-focused therapy aims to alleviate psychological distress by fostering its development. The experience of becoming self-compassionate for people with complex mental health difficulties has not been analysed in the literature, despite clinical observations that this process is difficult. This study explored the process of becoming ...