ABSTRACT

Self-compassion is the ability to offer oneself kindness and compassion in response to failure, suffering, or insecurity. Learning how to be self-compassionate through self-compassion training appears effective for improving psychological well-being in community samples and promising for clinical populations. The current randomized controlled trial was designed to (a) examine the effectiveness of a self-guided self-compassion training program; and (b) determine whether self-compassion training can help mitigate social anxiety disorder (SAD) symptoms. Adults with SAD (n = 63; Mage = 34.3, SD = 11.4; 67.8% female; 84.7% Caucasian) were randomized to a waitlist control condition, a self-guided self-compassion training condition, or a self-guided applied relaxation training condition for six weeks. Outcome measures of SAD symptoms and self-compassion were completed pre-, mid-, and post-treatment, as well as at 3-months follow-up. Multilevel linear modelling results suggested the self-compassion training program was statistically superior at improving outcome measures relative to the waitlist control condition (ps < .05; η²_ps = .12–.33), but not relative to the applied relaxation training condition (ps > .05; η²_ps = .01–.05). Self-compassion training produced greater clinically significant gains in self-compassion and reductions in fear of self-compassion compared to both the waitlist condition and applied relaxation training. The current trial provides preliminary evidence for the effectiveness of a self-help self-compassion training program and provides evidence that self-compassion training may be beneficial for managing clinically significant SAD symptoms.

摘要

自我慈悲是一种对失败、痛苦或不安全感做出反应的能力。通过自我慈悲训练学习如何自我慈悲似乎可以有效改善社区样本的心理健康，并为临床人群带来希望。当前的随机对照试验旨在（a）检查自我指导的自我同情培训计划的有效性；(b) 确定自我慈悲训练是否有助于减轻社交焦虑症 (SAD) 症状。患有 SAD 的成年人（n  = 63；M年龄 = 34.3，SD = 11.4; 67.8% 女性；84.7% 的白种人）被随机分配到等候名单控制条件、自我指导的自我同情训练条件或自我指导的应用放松训练条件，为期六周。SAD 症状和自我同情的结果测量在治疗前、中期和治疗后以及 3 个月的随访中完成。多层次线性建模结果表明，自我慈悲训练计划在改善结果指标方面优于等候名单控制条件 ( p s < .05; η ² _p s = .12–.33)，但与应用放松无关训练条件 ( p s > .05; η ² _ps = .01–.05）。与等待名单条件和应用放松训练相比，自我慈悲训练在自我慈悲方面产生了更大的临床显着收益，并减少了对自我慈悲的恐惧。目前的试验为自助自我慈悲训练计划的有效性提供了初步证据，并提供了自我慈悲训练可能有益于管理临床上显着的 SAD 症状的证据。