As a practitioner, you know the critical role compassion plays in the work that we do. In fact, you were probably drawn to this profession out of a deep sense of compassion, that overpowering desire to relieve suffering.
Now, putting compassion to work in the clinical setting goes far beyond just the desire to relieve suffering. It includes a host of specific, highly targeted interventions that address the unique ways each client expresses the emotional distress that leads to suffering. It also includes specific interventions to help clients cultivate self-compassion.
Research[1] is beginning to provide evidence of just how critical compassion is to healing – even some of the most challenging disorders.
Take a look at the video below. It’s about 2 ½ minutes:
Dr. Neff: The really amazing thing is that the research is showing, even people with difficult trauma histories or psychosis or very difficult-to-treat conditions, they can learn self-compassion. It’s not just what you’re born with, it’s not just your genes, it’s not just your early childhood upbringing. In some ways, what self-compassion is is learning to “reparent” yourself, actually learning to give yourself what you may not have gotten as a child.
Dr. Buczynski: That’s an important thing to remember about compassion. It can be powerful, even when there are challenging issues in your client’s past. Case in point: a small, randomized study was done at Emory University that examined compassion training on participants who had a high severity of depressive symptoms and had recently attempted suicide. They were also African American. The Emory research team wanted to see how compassion training might impact depression and self-criticism. To do this, they randomly assigned participants to either a six-week compassion training or a six-week support group. Participants in the compassion group were encouraged to meditate daily and complete practice assignments after each session. The study found that participants in the compassion training group showed greater reduction in self-criticism and depression. Fascinating, right? This suggests compassion interventions can be a powerful tool for ameliorating self-criticism and ultimately in decreasing depressive symptoms.
Now this research represents just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the evidence that supports compassion-oriented interventions.
But it’s complex, because there are multiple schools of thought, such as Compassion-Focused Therapy, Mindful Self-Compassion, and Compassion-Focused ACT.
So we spent a year developing this 4-week program to help you integrate these approaches into your work. And we brought together the top experts in the field to guide you.
But for now, I’d like to hear from you. How have you used compassion interventions in your work with clients? What was the result?
Please leave a comment below – and thanks for watching.
(If you’d like to know more about this research, the key citations are listed below.)
- Au, T. M., Sauer-Zavala, S., King, M. W., Petrocchi, N., Barlow, D. H., & Litz, B. T. (2016). Compassion-Based Therapy for Trauma-Related Shame and Posttraumatic Stress: Initial Evaluation Using a Multiple Baseline Design. Behavior Therapy, 48(2), 207–221. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2016.11.012
- Braehler, C., Gumley, A., Harper, J., Wallace, S., Norrie, J., & Gilbert, P. (2012). Exploring change processes in compassion focused therapy in psychosis: Results of a feasibility randomized controlled trial. British Journal of Clinical Psychology. doi: 10.1111/bjc.12009
- Diedrich, A., Grant, M., Hofmann, S. G., Hiller, W., & Berking, M. (2014). Self-compassion as an emotion regulation strategy in major depressive disorder. Behavioral Research and Therapy, 58, 43–51. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2014.05.006
- Johnson, S. B., Goodnight, B. L., Zhang, H., Daboin, I., Patterson, B., & Kaslow, N. J. (2017). Compassion-Based Meditation in African Americans: Self-Criticism Mediates Changes in Depression. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 48(2), 160–168. doi: 10.1111/sltb.12347
- Kaurin, A., Schönfelder, S., & Wessa, M. (2018). Self-Compassion Buffers the Link Between Self-Criticism and Depression in Trauma-Exposed Firefighters. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 65(4), 453–462. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cou0000275
- Kearney, D. J., Malte, C. A., McManus, C., Martinez, M. E., Felleman, B., & Simpson, T. L. (2013). Loving‐Kindness Meditation for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Pilot Study. Journal of Traumatic Stress. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.21832
- Litz, B., & Carney, J. R. (2018). Employing loving-kindness meditation to promote self- and other-compassion among war veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder. Spirituality in Clinical Practice, 5(3), 201-211. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/scp0000174
- Raes, F. (2010). Rumination and worry as mediators of the relationship between self-compassion and depression and anxiety. Personality and Individual Differences, 48(6), 757–761. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2010.01.023
- Yarnell, L. M., & Neff, K. D. (2012). Self-compassion, Interpersonal Conflict Resolutions, and Well-being. Self and Identity, 12(2), 146–159. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2011.649545
- Zessin, U., Dickhäuser, O., & Garbade, S. (2015). The Relationship Between Self-Compassion and Well-Being: A Meta-Analysis. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 7(3), 340–364. doi: 10.1111/aphw.12051
I felt there is a lot of compassion in this quote by Dr. Bessle van der Kolk “Our job as therapist is to make it as safe as possible for people to meet their inner world.” This is so true in relation to how we can show compassion by giving the space and pace it out for the other person to search and decipher what they try to decode. Then validating and self-affirming will help the person to overcome the fear to be wrong and to bravely face that scary place, but not alone this time. Thank you for all the handy citations,
Thank you for sharing your knowledge that is so helpful in many ways .
Can anyone help me understand more about the difference between external and internal shame and how validation plays out? Thank you ?
So many things to remember, but just keep trying to keep up the good work when I will be in my sessions, thank you Nicabm team!
Well, I surely agree with how being nurturing and caring is more meaningful when there is compassion and connection. I have helped my diabetic client to consume less sweet because it can be harmful. I would not contradict myself and would recommend him having a substitute rather than a sweet as a reward. That’s been a complaint from my client. Working toward a compassionate way to help our client with his obstacle can be less than compassionate. So, I feel like doing good is not always a good way to work it through. Sometimes, just a compassionate smile can show how much you understand the hardship and effort from the client part. And that’s showing compassion too. L.
Dear Angela,
I am sorry to hear how harsh you have been to yourself. I can hear myself saying the same thing and I thank you for let it out and revealing. It doesn’t take much to be ” a decent human being” and it is learned and there is so much to learn to be a good one, to feel sad when the other is sad, to feel sorrow, to share and cry on the shoulders. It is usually seen as a weakness. I just do the best I can to go outside of my comfort zone and then let it be me whenever I will be me. And, it is fine with me.
Paying it forward isn’t just a concept. Sometimes just a kind word or a smile can mean the difference between someone carrying on or committing suicide. It takes zero dollars and zero cents to be a decent human being. You don’t really exactly where someone else is emotionally and because of that mindful intentions are highly underrated. That being said it is absolutely acceptable to treat people accordingly. I am nobody’s doormat.
I have to admit self-compassion has never been one of my strong suits. There is no harsher judge of me than me. I am starting to realize I have to be more forgiving to myself for being duped by ingenuine people. Not everyone has the same morals or principles. Not every smiling face is a friend.
Mesmerizing ! Thank you for generously showing the videos for free learning and self- improvement
Like one toss in a salad bowl everything, compassion seems to have the misericord for everything. Can’t think of better word to come to a better understanding of the term. Would like to hear more from Nicabm experts. Very much so.
Thank you for giving a distinct definition of what “compassion” means.
Compassion – both for self and for others – is critical for addressing today’s socio-political stress, which has become trauma for some. The pervading divisiveness destroys the social support that is central to recovery from adversity. I see the need for compassion to be so essential for moving forward that I’ve spent the last two years writing/publishing a book about it: “The Cogjam Effect – and the Path to Healing Divisive Community and Fractured Science.” We can heal. We are resilient, and compassion plays a vital role.
I encourage clients to do something nurturing for themselves every day, even if it’s very small. I explain to them that it’s like parenting their inner child who has been so hurt and is in need of nurturing. Many clients are good caretakers to others, but not to themselves. I explain to them that when they nurture themselves they’re giving themselves the message that they deserve to be nurtured just like the people they caretake or nurture.
Being grateful to yourself with your self-talk and being compassionate toward yourself as you reparent yourself and reconnect with your true essence are what truly help pay for my assignment online. Seeing thoughts that make you feel better and not feel great also helps to adjust the attitude and adjust what you perceive.
Thank you for these videos. I’m thinking how a prayerful life includes meditative practices as well as compassion towards others, and possibly oneself. Yet, religious practice has decreased in recent years, especially among younger people, leaving gaps now filled by focus on mindfulness, meditation and compassionate practices. Regardless, the need for inner peace and kindness to self and all needs to be filled. Keep up the good work.
Interpersonal and intrapersonal expressions of compassion and empathy are, of course, essential features to being fully human. How do we express compassion for our clients without enabling maladaptive behaviors or reinforcing a victim narrative?
Hi Pam same question i’ve asked to myself for awhile and i am quite curious about if there is anything else to it
Good question, Pam. It’s why I’m not very happy with the word (“compassion”). For a lot of us, it tends to bring up “Awww – I’m so sorry”, which can do what you mention. I prefer “attunement”, because 1) it doesn’t trigger as many automatic responses; 2) so it’s easier (for me) to think of it as a “Stance” we *take*, rather than a *Feeling* we “have.”
For me that Stance = mindfulness about another’s mind and, maybe even more importantly, one’s own mind. “Holding (self/other’s) Mind in mind” is how some think of it, with “holding” being an important word.
In a similar vein, I prefer “distress” to “suffering” and “pain”, both of which have lots of automatic responses. “Distress” has them, too, but to a lesser extent, in my experience.
Not a fan of “empathy” either, which is so tossed around these days and tends to associate with “sympathy,” which can get problematic easily.
I *do* like “courage.” It tends to naturally exclude the adrenaline junkie defense – impulsivity/lousy frustration tolerance – against Distressing Feelings. (Feelings one can’t Hold).
Hope this helps.
This is for Pam and Mitzi, and Joel, too, if interested. You ask a very good question. I think it is human nature for us to think in all-or-nothing terms; I know I do that sometimes. When it comes to compassion, it is important not to turn it into a pity party. What I’m hearing from these trainings is that it is important to combine self-compassion with taking responsibility for our own actions and feelings and caring for ourselves AND others. Instead of me, for example, thinking I’m inadequate because my parents didn’t take good care of me when I was little and beyond, and then doing self-defeating behaviors, I can shift my perspective, be kind to myself, realize that I’m good enough, and change my self-defeating behaviors to those that are more adaptive.
Many formal compassionate interventions with clients represent extensions of what we know, from our own life experience, all people need to hear because, after relatively privileged access to good information and loving, healing relationships we know that we need to hear these things. At age 67 I have repeatedly had the experience of friends who have lost a parent in the past few years beating themselves up for “still” being grief-stricken. It is unacceptable to them to be doing their work in the world, or parenting, or partnering without their “typical best energies.” I find that it can be magic to simply voice the reality that grieving is useful work that takes time and tremendous self-compassion, and further, that it can be a gift to others in our lives to allow oneself to work through grief at one’s own pace.
To Mrs. Regenspan. Your words really touched a cord in me. Having in the same year lost both parents and received my divorce I went into grieving “my way”: I learned. Becoming a therapeutic counselor I did my PhD at the age of 60. And looking back now, I was still numb with shock. – Only after more training and learning becoming a Reverend, the continued sharing with others who were grieving opened my grieving heart. – Now mind and heart have found their balance and people seek me out for this – but it took 19 years. – I would however not want to miss any part of my life’s journey…
Karin – For more than twenty years, my grieving hasn’t met the end of its purpose. It is still engrained in my mind that I am to blame. This video is an amazing training to bring clarity and effective vision of the end of the tunnel. Taking responsibility is what is in the end the goal and purpose of our being in this world. I am always very thankful to learn about ways to overcoming fear when making our own decisions.