The Impact of Self-Compassion on Shame-Proneness in Social Anxiety

Self-compassion is conceptualized as a particularly useful strategy in regulating shame. However, only a limited number of studies have investigated its effect on shame and shame-proneness. Also, it is not clear if this strategy is equally effective as other well-established techniques used for regu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Mindfulness 2018-12, Vol.9 (6), p.1816-1824
Main Authors: Cȃndea, Diana-Mirela, Szentágotai-Tătar, Aurora
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anxiety disorders
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Child and School Psychology
Cognitive Psychology
Emotional regulation
Emotions
Hypotheses
Original Paper
Pediatrics
Psychology
Psychopathology
Public Health
School dropout programs
School dropouts
Self compassion
Self evaluation
Social anxiety
Social Sciences
Standard deviation
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Summary:Self-compassion is conceptualized as a particularly useful strategy in regulating shame. However, only a limited number of studies have investigated its effect on shame and shame-proneness. Also, it is not clear if this strategy is equally effective as other well-established techniques used for regulating basic emotions. The aim of the present study was to compare the efficacy of a self-compassion intervention, a cognitive reappraisal intervention, and a wait-list condition in reducing shame-proneness and social anxiety in a high socially anxious undergraduate sample. Participants ( N  = 136; 88.23% women; mean age = 21.85) completed a 2-week self-compassion or cognitive reappraisal online training in which they were asked to describe a negative event that had happened to them in the past 2 days and then reconsider the situation based on instructions received both in video and written format. Self-ratings of social anxiety symptoms, shame-proneness, trait self-compassion, and irrational beliefs were conducted before and after the training. We also explored the impact of the training on the level of state emotions following a laboratory shame-induction procedure. Both self-compassion and cognitive reappraisal significantly reduced shame-proneness and irrational beliefs from pre- to post-training, while social anxiety symptoms significantly decreased in the self-compassion condition. No significant between-group differences for these outcomes were observed. Self-compassion might be an alternative strategy for cognitive reappraisal in the management of shame-proneness and social anxiety.
ISSN:1868-8527
1868-8535
DOI:10.1007/s12671-018-0924-1