Self-compassion training modulates alpha-amylase, heart rate variability, and subjective responses to social evaluative threat in women

Summary A growing body of research has revealed that social evaluative stressors trigger biological and psychological responses that in chronic forms have been linked to aging and disease. Recent research suggests that self-compassion may protect the self from typical defensive responses to evaluati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychoneuroendocrinology 2014-04, Vol.42, p.49-58
Main Authors: Arch, Joanna J, Brown, Kirk Warren, Dean, Derek J, Landy, Lauren N, Brown, Kimberley D, Laudenslager, Mark L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Alpha-amylase
Anxiety - physiopathology
Attention - physiology
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Cortisol
Empathy - physiology
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Heart Rate - physiology
Heart rate variability
Hormones and behavior
Humans
Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System - physiopathology
Meditation
Pituitary-Adrenal System - physiopathology
Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Saliva - chemistry
Salivary alpha-Amylases - analysis
Self-compassion
Social threat
Stress
Stress, Psychological - physiopathology
Young Adult
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Summary:Summary A growing body of research has revealed that social evaluative stressors trigger biological and psychological responses that in chronic forms have been linked to aging and disease. Recent research suggests that self-compassion may protect the self from typical defensive responses to evaluation. We investigated whether brief training in self-compassion moderated biopsychological responses to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) in women. Compared to attention (placebo) and no-training control conditions, brief self-compassion training diminished sympathetic (salivary alpha-amylase), cardiac parasympathetic, and subjective anxiety responses, though not HPA-axis (salivary cortisol) responses to the TSST. Self-compassion training also led to greater self-compassion under threat relative to the control groups. In that social stress pervades modern life, self-compassion represents a promising approach to diminishing its potentially negative psychological and biological effects.
ISSN:0306-4530
1873-3360
DOI:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.12.018