OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to explore the meaning and experiences of compassion and self-compassion for individuals with depression and anxiety. DESIGN An interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) epistemology and methodology were adopted as the study was focused on understanding the meaning and experiences of participants towards self-compassion from existing theory. M...

Body appreciation has been found to be linked to interpersonal and intrapersonal factors, with attachment styles and self-compassion separately identified as important correlates. The present study examined these variables together in a model, and we hypothesized that maternal attachment anxiety was related to peer and romantic attachment anxiety, which, in turn, was associated with self-compas...

Background: The disappearance of a loved one is a unique type of loss, also termed 'ambiguous loss', which may heighten the risk for developing prolonged grief (PG), depression, and posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms. Little is known about protective and risk factors for psychopathology among relatives of missing persons. A potential protective factor is self-compassion, referring to openness ...

The Santa Clara Brief Compassion Scale (SCBCS) is a five-item scale intended to operationalize and measure compassion. Santa Clara University has been administering the SCBCS, along with other demographic questions, to all new entering as well as exiting graduating students for the past decade. Previous research has utilized compassion scores and demographic data collected from these surveys in...

This article focuses on the construct of self-compassion and how it differs from self-esteem. First, it discusses the fact that while self-esteem is related to psychological well-being, the pursuit of high self-esteem can be problematic. Next it presents another way to feel good about oneself: selfcompassion. Self-compassion entails treating oneself with kindness, recognizing one’s shared human...

About ten percent of the Dutch working population suffers from chronic stress and high levels of emotional exhaustion. Chronic stress is associated with depressive and anxiety disorders, which are very prevalent in the population. One of the individual causes of chronic stress may be high levels of self-criticism. This context warrants a public mental approach. A self-help book was written base...