Mindfulness and Self-Compassion in Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Examining Predictors of Disability

Abstract

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a condition characterized by worry and physiological arousal symptoms that causes significant disabilities in patients' lives. In order to improve psychotherapeutic interventions, a careful characterization of the deficiencies of this population as well as factors that ameliorate disability is crucial. Variables that have not traditionally been the focus of research should be considered, such as trait mindfulness and self-compassion. We investigated whether GAD patients would report lower mindfulness and self-compassion levels than healthy stressed individuals. Eighty-seven GAD patients and 49 healthy controls completed the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, the Self-Compassion Scale, and measures of anxiety. Patients with GAD also completed the Sheehan Disability Scale. Results showed that GAD patients had lower mindfulness and self-compassion than healthy stressed controls, and both were negatively correlated with levels of anxiety, worry, and anxiety sensitivity. In patients, mindfulness was a better predictor of disability than actual anxiety symptom scores. These findings highlight that in the presence of anxiety symptoms, mindfulness can be a factor that helps protect against feeling disabled by the disorder. The findings thereby add an important variable to the characterization of this disorder and should be taken into consideration for future treatment development.

The relevance of self‐compassion as an intervention target in mood and anxiety disorders: A narrative review based on an emotion regulation framework

“…Raes () also found that rumination and worry were partial mediators in the self‐compassion—anxiety relationship. In a similar vein, Hoge et al () found that self‐compassion was a significant negative predictor of worry among individuals with GAD. In addition, self‐compassion has been found to inversely predict emotional avoidance in community samples (Sydenham et al, ) and behavioural avoidance in outpatient clinical samples (Krieger et al, ).…”

“…In support of self‐compassion as a buffer against depressive symptomatology, their results demonstrated that self‐compassion significantly predicted later depressive symptoms and the presence of a major depressive episode over time; in contrast, symptoms of depression did not predict self‐compassion over time. In addition, research on anxiety symptomatology has found that self‐compassion is inversely associated with symptom severity in GAD (Roemer et al, ) and obsessive–compulsive disorder (Wetterneck, Lee, Smith, & Hart, ), while individuals with GAD and SAD report significantly lower self‐compassion than healthy controls (Hoge et al, ; Werner et al, ).…”

“…The relevance of self‐compassion as a treatment target for mood and anxiety disorders has been highlighted by a number of authors (e.g., Gilbert & Procter, ; Hoge et al, ; Krieger, Berger, & Holtforth, ), and large effect sizes have been found for the relationship between self‐compassion and symptoms of depression and anxiety (MacBeth & Gumley, ). Despite the robust evidence of an inverse relationship between self‐compassion and these outcomes, there have been no previous attempts to integrate findings from the self‐compassion research within an established, unifying framework which might account for the role of self‐compassion in buffering against the development and maintenance of emotional disorders.…”

Evaluation of a Specialized Yoga Program for Persons Admitted to a Complex Continuing Care Hospital: A Pilot Study

“…Higher levels of self-compassion have been associated with lower levels of catastrophizing, avoidance, and rumination in chronic pain patients who were presented with vignettes involving a violation of social contract and have been found to predict affect, pain disability, and pain catastrophizing in obese patients with chronic pain [114, 115]. The relationships between self-compassion, anxiety, and disability have been explored in individuals with Generalized Anxiety Disorder; these individuals display lower levels of self-compassion and mindfulness than healthy stressed controls and mindfulness was a better predictor of disability than actual anxiety symptoms, drawing potential protective effects of mindfulness on disability in individuals with chronic worry and physiological symptoms [116]. The relationship between self-compassion and anxiety should be further elucidated and it may be useful to examine the relationships between the subscales of the SCS to better understand which components of self-compassion are most helpful in mediating changes in anxiety in clinical populations.…”

Self-Compassion in Clinical Samples: A Systematic Literature Review

“…In a study with people with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) it was shown that GAD patients reported lower mindfulness and self-compassion levels and higher levels of worry and anxiety (Hoge et al, 2013). According to another Relative to TAU, CFT was associated with greater observed clinical improvement (p < 0.001) and significant increases in compassion (p = 0.015) of large magnitude.…”