Do you ever have times, maybe at the end of a long day of seeing clients, that you feel disconnected or apathetic? Of course you do; we all do. It’s tough to remain present to suffering hour after hour. During times like this it’s common for therapists to try to just “push through”, to ignore … Read more
In addition to the sequence of lovingkindness meditations we have created for use with highly self-critical clients, we have found that it is often powerful for the phrases used in lovingkindness meditations to be customized for a particular person. The goal is to identify personalized lovingkindness phrases based on the client’s own idiosyncratic experience that … Read more
In a recent post, we wrote about how the absence of criticism in a person’s history is not the same as the presence of warmth. It is not necessary for clients to have a history of extreme levels of abuse or verbal criticism from others in order to develop a shame prone and self-critical tendency. … Read more
Self-compassion is great. It feels all nice and warm and fuzzy, right? Actually, maybe not, at least not for everyone. In fact, for a lot of folks, particularly those who struggle with chronic shame and self-criticism, compassion can actually be pretty scary! In fact, we know from research that highly self-critical clients tend to find compassion-related cues to be anxiety provoking. Even for folks who are … 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: Belongingness Affects Feelings of Guilt and Shame Although both guilt and shame are often elicited by the same situation (transgressing a social norm), … Read more
One of the core processes in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is “self as context” work, or, as we prefer to call it, flexible perspective taking. In our work with those struggling with chronic shame and self-criticism, this flexible perspective taking is key to helping individuals to develop a more compassionate perspective towards themselves and … 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: Compassion Training Helps Reduce Binge Eating and Distress for People Struggling with Binge Eating Disorder This is the first randomized controlled trial to explore the … Read more
We are grateful and humbled that last month we reached 1,000 likes on Facebook! As we celebrate this milestone, we wanted to take a moment to thank all our supporters over these last few years who have helped to spread the word about ACT With Compassion. We are also incredibly grateful to those of you … 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: Fear of Self-Compassion Predicts Functioning After Childhood Sexual Abuse Some individuals, especially those high in self-criticism, are fearful of extending kindness and warmth … Read more
Several of the folks following us at ACT with Compassion have expressed an interest in learning about how ACT with Compassion can help clients who are dealing with the effects of interpersonal trauma. Some of you have noticed that survivors tend to experience high levels of shame. Others of you have shared that compassion-focused work … Read more