Effect of Self-Compassion on Emotion Regulation in Generalized Anxiety Disorder

A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Self-Compassion Writing Intervention for Adults With Mental Illness

“…Hypothesis 5: Based on the previous self-compassion writing research that showed positive affect significantly improved for participants who wrote with self-compassion (Helm, 2016; Imrie & Troop, 2012; Ziemer, 2014) and positive writing research that resulted in immediate increases in positive affect after each wave’s intervention (Burton & Kiing, 2007), we hypothesized that individuals in the treatment group in the current study would show a greater increase in positive affect than the control group after each wave’s writing intervention. We measured positive and negative affect immediately before and after each wave’s intervention to be consistent with previous writing research.…”

“…Independent t tests were used to assess the length of participants’ writing and how long it took participants to complete the experiment. Outcome measure analyses only used data from participants who completed all three waves of the experiment. Hypothesis 1: Based on recent research suggesting that self-compassion interventions (Albertson et al, 2014; Arch et al, 2014; Neff & Germer, 2013; Smeets et al, 2014), and self-compassion writing interventions in particular (Breines & Chen, 2012; Ziemer, 2014) increase levels of self-compassion, we hypothesized that subjects who completed the self-compassion writing intervention in the current study would show a greater increase in self-compassion at the Wave 3 posttest and 1-month follow-up than participants in the control group. Hypothesis 2: Based on research by Neff et al (2005) that found self-compassion is positively correlated with adaptive coping abilities and research that found self-compassion may help individuals make progress with their goals by controlling negative affect (Hope et al, 2014), we hypothesized that subjects who completed the self-compassion writing intervention in the current study would show a greater increase in proactive coping at the posttest and 1-month follow-up than participants in the control group. Hypothesis 3: Based on research that demonstrated that self-compassion is negatively correlated with mental illness (MacBeth & Gumley, 2012) and that self-compassion interventions can protect against mental illness (Trompetter et al, 2017; Waite et al, 2015), and reduce mental health symptoms like depression and anxiety (Arch et al, 2014; Neff & Germer, 2013), we hypothesized that participants who completed the self-compassion writing intervention in the current study would show a greater improvement in depression at the posttest and 1-month follow-up than participants in the control group. Hypothesis 4: Based on the original expressive writing study by Pennebaker and Beall (1986), subsequent expressive writing studies (Koschwanez et al, 2013; Petrie et al, 2004; Sloan & Marx, 2004), and Wong and Mak’s (2016) self-compassion writing study that showed that writing interventions are effective at improving physical symptoms, we hypothesized that participants in the treatment group would show a greater decrease in physical symptoms at the posttest and 1-month follow-up than the control group. Hypothesis 5: Based on the previous self-compassion writing research that showed positive affect significantly improved for participants who wrote with self-compassion (Helm, 2016; Imrie & Troop, 2012; Ziemer, 2014) and positive writing research that resulted in immediate increases in positive affect after each wave’s intervention (…”

“…Only one previous study, by Helm (2016), investigated the effects of self-compassion writing on individuals with mental illness. Helm studied adults with a generalized anxiety disorder, randomizing participants to a control group that participated in relaxation training and a treatment group that used a self-compassion writing intervention.…”

Self-Compassion May Have Benefits for Body Image among Women with a Higher Body Mass Index and Internalized Weight Bias

“…Subsequently, participants wrote about a recent situation during which they felt poorly about their body (e.g., noticing a body part they dislike while looking in the mirror), a step intended to make negative body image salient. The instructions were partially based on negative mood inductions found to be effective in previous research [ 20 , 51 ]. After writing, participants completed VAS body (dis)satisfaction scales for a third time.…”

Examining a brief self-compassion intervention for emotion regulation in individuals with exposure to trauma.

“…All participants then completed time 2 measures (SCS, DERS-16, and SUDS). Instructions for the DERS-16 were modified to ask participants to rate how they were regulating emotions in the present moment (Helm, 2016). Next, participants were randomly assigned to either the SC condition or the MRT condition and listened to an audio recording that gave verbal instructions for coping with distressing and self-critical emotions, based on their assigned condition.…”