Self-Compassion in Depression: Associations With Depressive Symptoms, Rumination, and Avoidance in Depressed Outpatients

Krieger, Tobias; Altenstein, David; Baettig, Isabelle; Doerig, Nadja; Holtforth, Martin Grosse (2013). Self-Compassion in Depression: Associations With Depressive Symptoms, Rumination, and Avoidance in Depressed Outpatients. Behavior therapy, 44(3), pp. 501-513. Elsevier 10.1016/j.beth.2013.04.004

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Self-compassion involves being kind to oneself when challenged with personal weaknesses or hardship and has been claimed to be associated with resilience in various areas. So far, there are only a handful of studies that investigate self-compassion and its relation to clinical depression. Therefore, the principal goals of the present study were (a) to compare self-compassion in clinically depressed patients and never-depressed subjects, (b) to investigate self-compassion and its relation to cognitive-behavioral avoidance and rumination in depressed outpatients, and (c) to investigate rumination and avoidance as mediators of the relationship between self-compassion and depressive symptoms. One hundred and forty-two depressed outpatients and 120 never-depressed individuals from a community sample completed a self-report measure of self-compassion along with other measures. Results indicate that depressed patients showed lower levels of self-compassion than never-depressed individuals, even when controlled for depressive symptoms. In depressed outpatients, self-compassion was negatively related to depressive symptoms, symptom-focused rumination, as well as cognitive and behavioral avoidance. Additionally, symptom-focused rumination and cognitive and behavioral avoidance mediated the relationship between self-compassion and depressive symptoms. These findings extend previous research on self-compassion, its relation to depression, as well as processes mediating this relationship, and highlight the importance of self-compassion in clinically depressed patients. Since depressed patients seem to have difficulties adopting a self-compassionate attitude, psychotherapists are well advised to explore and address how depressed patients treat themselves.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Psychology > Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy

UniBE Contributor:

Krieger, Tobias

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

0005-7894

Publisher:

Elsevier

Language:

English

Submitter:

Tobias Krieger

Date Deposited:

25 Feb 2020 10:07

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:51

Publisher DOI:

10.1016/j.beth.2013.04.004

PubMed ID:

23768676

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.74711

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/74711

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