Blog written by Natalie Doan, MSc, PhD Student in Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo
Self-compassion
Self-compassion, as defined by Gilbert (2005), is an attitude of kindness and acceptance towards personal distress and disappointment. Neff (2003) identified three components of self-compassion: self-kindness, feelings of common humanity, and mindfulness. Self-kindness refers to treating ourselves with care and understanding, rather than being harshly critical and judgemental, and recognizing the common humanity of making mistakes and feelings of inadequacies. The practice of mindfulness involves the intention of being in the present moment. By attempting to live in the present moment in a manner that neither suppresses or exaggerates painful feelings, mindfulness can help abate the tendency to over-identify with painful thoughts and feelings.
Although self-compassion and self-esteem may appear at face value to be similar concepts, self-compassion and self-esteem differ in many ways. For example, self-compassion and self-esteem diverge greatly in their reliance on evaluation and judgement. Contrasting the construct of self-esteem, which is predicated on individuals making self-evaluations and judgements of worthiness based on comparisons to other people, self-compassion does not necessitate appraising or making judgments. Hence, fostering self-compassion instead involves recognizing and accepting the universality of personal inadequacies and mistakes.
Interested in learning more about CFT?
Our coalition will be hosting a virtual, one-day workshop on the use of self-compassion in eating disorders featuring Dr. Allison Kelly and Sydney Waring in May 2021. Find more information on our CFT Conference page.
Compassion Focused Therapy
Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) is a treatment modality that is aimed at helping individuals prone to self-criticism and shame to cultivate inner kindness, especially when confronted with personal shortcomings and distress. CFT operates under the theory that criticism and hostility have evolved to stimulate a response from threat systems, leading to anxiety, anger, shame, and sometimes maladaptive self-protective behaviours, whereas warmth, affiliation, and compassion stimulate the system that fosters a sense of calmness and behaviours oriented towards trust and connection. Given the favourable effects that occur when compassion is experienced, CFT focuses on enhancing individual’s capacity for self-compassion.
Self-compassion and Eating Disorders
In the context of eating disorders, researchers have suggested that eating disorder symptoms (e.g., restricting, excessive exercising, bingeing, purging) can sometimes represent attempts to regulate underlying feelings of shame. Eating disorder symptoms may be useful to suppress shame in the short-term, but prolong and intensify shame in the long-term. Specifically, bingeing and purging may serve as a brief distraction from feelings of shame; however, engaging in these secretive behaviours can further contribute to the belief that one is “defective” and/or “disgusting” in the long-term. Restriction may also temporarily lower shame by yielding a sense of pride. Similar to bingeing-purging symptoms, the relief of shame is often short-lived and returns as eating disorder thoughts and urges progress. Empirical evidence in the literature provide support for this framework. Researchers have identified an association between shame and eating disorder symptoms in both clinical and community samples. Additionally, research suggests that self-compassion may be protective against shame and eating disorder pathology.
Compassion Focused Therapy for Eating Disorders
Compassion Focused therapy for Eating Disorders (CFT-E) was developed by Goss and Allan (2010). Briefly, the goal of CFT-E is to address the regulation difficulties, shame, self-criticism, and self-directed hostility experienced by individuals with an eating disorder through the development and practice of compassion. CFT-E puts an emphasis is put on an evolutionary and neuroscience model that highlights the ways in which the human brain and body have evolved to regulate different affects. Special attention is also given to help improve the ability to manage feelings of anxiety, anger, grief, and disgust. Beyond the standard CFT, CFT-E has been uniquely developed to help individuals use compassion to meet the challenges associated with eating disorder recovery.
References
Carter, C. S. (1998). Neuroendocrine perspectives on social attachment and love. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 23(8), 779-818.
Gilbert, P. (Ed.). (2005). Compassion: Conceptualisations, research and use in psychotherapy. Routledge.
Gilbert, P., & Miles, J. (Eds.). (2002). Body shame: Conceptualisation, research, and treatment. Psychology Press.
Goss, K., & Allan, S. (2009). Shame, pride and eating disorders. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy: An International Journal of Theory & Practice, 16(4), 303-316.
Goss, K., & Allan, S. (2010). Compassion focused therapy for eating disorders. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy, 3(2), 141-158.
Kelly, A. C., Carter, J. C., & Borairi, S. (2014). Are improvements in shame and self‐compassion early in eating disorders treatment associated with better patient outcomes?. International journal of eating disorders, 47(1), 54-64.
Kelly, A. C., Vimalakanthan, K., & Carter, J. C. (2014). Understanding the roles of self-esteem, self-compassion, and fear of self-compassion in eating disorder pathology: An examination of female students and eating disorder patients. Eating behaviors, 15(3), 388-391.
Kirsch, P., Esslinger, C., Chen, Q., Mier, D., Lis, S., Siddhanti, S., ... & Meyer-Lindenberg, A. (2005). Oxytocin modulates neural circuitry for social cognition and fear in humans. Journal of neuroscience, 25(49), 11489-11493.
LeDoux, J. (1998). The emotional brain: The mysterious underpinnings of emotional life. Simon and Schuster.
Neff, K. (2011). Self‐compassion, self‐esteem, and well‐being. Social and personality psychology compass, 5(1), 1-12.
Neff, K. D. (2003). Self-compassion: An alternative conceptualization of a healthy attitude toward oneself. Self and identity, 2(2), 85-101.
Neff, K. D. (2003). The development and validation of a scale to measure self-compassion. Self and identity, 2(3), 223-250.
Panksepp, J. (2004). Affective neuroscience: The foundations of human and animal emotions. Oxford university press.