What is it about?
This study explored whether practicing a simple self-administered compassion-focused imagery exercise once daily for one week could help people feel more comfortable being self-compassionate, giving compassion to others, and with receiving compassion from others. The research also looked at whether a person’s attachment style – patterns in people’s expectations and behaviours in relationships that are influenced by early life experiences – might affect how well the exercises worked. A group of 125 adults was randomly divided into two groups: one completed the compassion exercises for a week, while the other did not. Participants who practiced the exercises reported feeling less fearful of self-compassion, of giving compassion to others, and of receiving compassion from others. These improvements were seen regardless of their attachment style.
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Why is it important?
The results suggest that compassion-focused imagery could be a helpful and accessible tool for improving mental well-being by reducing barriers that prevent people from accessing the benefits of giving and receiving compassion.
Perspectives
This study provides promising evidence for the benefits of even a very brief, very simple intervention that can be self-administered at home. I hope future research will be able to continue to investigate how we can make interventions both accessible and effective.
Deanna Varley
University of Sydney
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Compassion focused imagery reduces fears of compassion irrespective of attachment., Journal of Counseling Psychology, December 2024, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/cou0000770.
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