Every month, we scour the scientific literature for interesting studies that have practical implications for therapists working with shame, self-criticism, or compassion. Below are a few of our favorites for this month: New Short Scale for Measuring External Shame This is a study validating an abbreviated version of an existing external shame measure. The initial … Read more
Research shows that behaviors that we track are likely to change as a result of self monitoring. This strategy can be used to develop more awareness of self-critical tendencies and foster daily experiences of self-compassion. We adapted Kristin Neff’s self-compassion scale to a daily format that asks people to reflect on their level of self-compassion once per day. … Read more
Each month we highlight some practical resources for therapists interested in compassion. We don’t go into great depth about what we find, but encourage you to check them out if you think they’re interesting. This Month’s Find: Compassionate Color Exercise Here is an exercise from The Compassionate Mind Foundation intended to foster a felt bodily … Read more
We have a new paper out in the journal Current Opinion in Psychology about shame, self-criticism, stigma, and compassion in ACT. Five studies show ACT helps with shame and self-stigmaIn this paper, we reviewed the existing research demonstrating that Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) can help with shame and what is called self-stigma, or buying … Read more
Every month, we scour the scientific literature for interesting studies that have practical implications for therapists working with shame, self-criticism, or compassion. Below are a few of our favorites for this month: History of Betrayal Trauma Predicts Feelings of Shame This is a new publication by Melissa along with betrayal trauma expert, Jennifer Freyd. We were … Read more
Each month we highlight some practical resources for therapists interested in compassion. We don’t go into great depth about what we find, but encourage you to check them out if you think they’re interesting. This month’s find: Self-Compassion Break from Kristin Neff. The self-compassion break exercise helps you and/or your client to develop a loving … Read more
People who are chronically self-critical often become numb to the effects of their self-criticism. Through closely attending to the emotional reaction to self-criticism, people can begin to feel the real impact of this way of relating to oneself. Doing chair work where the critical side is enacted can sometimes begin to elicit the emotional reactions … Read more
Every month, we scour the scientific literature for interesting studies that have practical implications for therapists working with shame, self-criticism, or compassion. Below are a few of our favorites for this month: A Brief Mindfulness Intervention Makes Compassionate Action More Likely This is a follow-up to a 2014 Psych Science paper demonstrating that mindfulness training increases compassionate … Read more
Last week, The Compassionate Mind Foundation listserv discussed the issue of working compassionately with a client experiencing feelings of betrayal, anger, and shame in her relationship with her parents. This client seemed to be experiencing a pattern typical of survivors of betrayal trauma in which, when she allowed herself to experience any anger toward her parents, the anger … Read more
Here is an idea for an exercise to help clients defuse from their self-critic. This exercise could also help to assess the workability of listening to the critic. What is the fundamental objective of the critic? Is it actually effective at meeting that objective? Is the critic’s objective aligned with the client’s values? We have … Read more