Compassion-focused therapy: Difference between revisions
This section explains various psychological disorders where CFT has been researched as a possible treatment. Some examples include psychosis, eating disorders, and acquired brain injuries. |
These two sections explain some limitations to CFT as well as future recommendations. Some limitations include the amount of time one must invest in CFT, and some future recommendations include further research with larger sample sizes. |
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CFT is also being studied as a rehabilitation method for patients with acquired brain injuries (ABI). Preliminary, small-scale studies have shown CFT to be safe and beneficial in treating anxiety and depressive symptoms of ABI patients, although further large-scale studies are needed.<ref name=":10">{{cite journal |last1=Ashworth |first1=Fiona |last2=Clarke |first2=Alexis |last3=Jones |first3=Lisa |last4=Jennings |first4=Caroline |last5=Longworth |first5=Catherine |title=An exploration of compassion focused therapy following acquired brain injury |journal=Psychology and Psychotherapy |date=15 August 2014 |volume=88 |issue=2 |doi=https://doi.org/10.1111/papt.12037 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/papt.12037}}</ref> |
CFT is also being studied as a rehabilitation method for patients with acquired brain injuries (ABI). Preliminary, small-scale studies have shown CFT to be safe and beneficial in treating anxiety and depressive symptoms of ABI patients, although further large-scale studies are needed.<ref name=":10">{{cite journal |last1=Ashworth |first1=Fiona |last2=Clarke |first2=Alexis |last3=Jones |first3=Lisa |last4=Jennings |first4=Caroline |last5=Longworth |first5=Catherine |title=An exploration of compassion focused therapy following acquired brain injury |journal=Psychology and Psychotherapy |date=15 August 2014 |volume=88 |issue=2 |doi=https://doi.org/10.1111/papt.12037 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/papt.12037}}</ref> |
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== Limitations == |
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Beaumont and Hollins Martin (2015)<ref name=":88">{{cite journal |last1=Beaumont |first1=Elaine |last2=Hollins Martin |first2=Caroline |title=A narrative review exploring the effectiveness of Compassion-Focused Therapy. |journal=The British Psychological Society |date=2015}}</ref> examine narrative reviews of 12 research findings that has shown use of CFT to treat and experiment with psychological outcomes in clinical populations. The researchers found that overall, there are improvements of mental health issues with CFT intervention, but is most effective when combined with approaches such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).<ref name=":88" /> |
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Beaumont and Hollins Martin (2015) found a major limitation in the empirical studies are the small number of participants involved in each case. For instance, Gilbert and Proctor (2006) showed small reductions in depression, anxiety, self-criticism and shame, however their participant group involved only 6 members.<ref name=":33">{{cite journal |last1=Gilbert |first1=Paul |last2=Proctor |first2=Sue |title=Compassionate mind training for people with high shame and self-criticism: Overview and pilot study of a group therapy approach. |journal=British Journal of Clinical Psychology |date=2006 |page=353-379}}</ref> The small number of participants can cause bias or facilitate a problem of generalisation for the broader population. For instance, out of the twelve studies only two individually supported effectiveness of CFT. A study conducted by Lucre and Corten (2012)<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lucre |first1=K. |last2=Corten |first2=N. |title=An exploration of group compassion-focused therapy for personality disorder |journal=The British Psychological Society. |date=2012 |page=387–400 |doi=10.1111/j.2044-8341.2012.02068.x}}</ref> found CFT to be effective for treating patients with only personality disorders, and another study by Heriot-Maitland et,al. (2014)<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Heriot-Maitland |first1=C. |last2=Vidal |first2=J.B |last3=Ball |first3=S. |last4=Irons |first4=C. |title=A compassionate-focused therapy group approach for acute inpatients: Feasibility, initial pilot outcome data, and recommendations |journal=The British Psychological Society |date=2014 |doi=10.1111/bjc.12040}}</ref> found that treating clients in acute inpatient settings was effective.<ref name=":88" /> |
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Compassion focused therapy may involve weekly hours of long therapeutic sessions for several months and depending on severity, it could take months as well. Further, the sessions may be expensive, however, some Medicare options provide deductions or partial refunds for visits to clinical psychologists, psychologists and therapists. Australia’s Medicare provides this under the Better Access to Mental Health Care scheme.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://bluepages.anu.edu.au/index.php?id=compassion-focused-therapy |website=Compassion Focused Therapy}}</ref> Due to this style of therapy being fairly new, not all health insurance providers will subsidize clinical visits. |
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== Recommendations == |
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The findings of Beaumont and Hollins Martin (2015) recommended that the effectiveness of CFT needs further extensive research in order to fully examine reductions in mental illnesses and overall improvements in quality of life.<ref name=":88" /> This study recommends for consideration of larger samples of participants in order to ensure that CFT can be independently effective without other psychotherapy interventions involved such as CBT. |
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==References== |
==References== |
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Revision as of 02:45, 4 December 2018
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Compassion focused therapy (CFT) is a system of psychotherapy developed by Paul Gilbert that integrates techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy with concepts from evolutionary psychology, social psychology, developmental psychology, Buddhist psychology, and neuroscience. "One of its key concerns is to use compassionate mind training to help people develop and work with experiences of inner warmth, safeness and soothing, via compassion and self-compassion."[1]
The central therapeutic technique of CFT is compassionate mind training, which teaches the skills and attributes of compassion.[2] Compassionate mind training helps transform problematic patterns of cognition and emotion related to anxiety, anger, shame, self-criticism, depersonalization, and hypomania.[3]
Biological evolution forms the theoretical backbone of CFT. Humans have evolved with at least three primal types of emotion regulation system: the threat (protection) system, the drive (resource-seeking) system, and the soothing system.[4] CFT emphasizes the links between cognitive patterns and these three emotion regulation systems.[5] Through the use of techniques such as compassionate mind training and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), psychotherapy clients can learn to manage each system more effectively and respond more appropriately to situations.[6] There are an increasing number of empirical research papers that demonstrate the importance of compassion as a way of directing behavior to deal with threat and resolve conflict.[7]
Compassion focused therapy is especially appropriate for people who have high levels of shame and self-criticism and who have difficulty in feeling warmth toward, and being kind to, themselves or others.[1] Such problems of shame and self-criticism are often rooted in a history of abuse, bullying, neglect, and/or lack of affection in the family.[8] CFT can help such people learn to feel more safeness and warmth in their interactions with others and themselves.[1]
Numerous methods are used in CFT to develop a person's compassion. For example, people undergoing CFT are taught to understand compassion from the third person, before transferring these thought processes to themselves.[9]
Core principles
The Compassionate Mind Foundation of the USA defines Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) as a “a sensitivity to the suffering of self and others, with a commitment to try to alleviate or prevent it”.[10] CFT is largely built on the acknowledgement that the evolution of caring behavior has major regulatory and developmental functions.[11] The central focus of CFT is to concentrate on helping clients relate to their difficulties in compassionate ways, as well as provide them with effective tools to work with challenging circumstances and emotions they encounter.[12] CFT helps those learn tools to engage with their battles in accepting and encouraging ways, thereby aiding themselves to feel confident to accomplish difficult tasks and deal with challenging situations.[12]
This is facilitated by:
- Developing a positive therapeutic relationship that facilitates the process of engaging with one’s challenges and development of skills to deal with them.[13]
- Developing non-blaming compassionate understandings into the nature of suffering.[13]
- Developing the ability to experience and cultivate compassionate attributes.[13]
- Developing the feeling of compassion for others, being open to compassion from others, and developing self-compassion.[13]
According to evolutionary analysis, there are three types of functional emotion regulation systems: drive, safety and threat. CFT is based on the relationship and interactions between these systems. One is born with each system but our surroundings implicate whether one utilizes and sustains the non-survival-based systems (drive and caregiving).[14]
- Threat and self-protection focused system: evolved to alert and direct attention to detect and respond to threats. This system contains threat-based emotions (anger, anxiety, disgust), and threat-based behaviours (fight/flight, freezing).[14]
- Drive, seeking and acquisition focused system: pay attention and notice advantageous resources, experience drive and pleasure in securing them (positive system is activating).[14]
- Contentment, soothing and affiliative system: enables state of peacefulness when individuals are no longer focussed on threats or seeking out resources (allows body to rest and digest and have open attention).[14]
Using CFT enriches the compassion-based soothing system, while withdrawing from the threat-focussed emotional regulation system. In turn, this will augment the ability to activate (drive) and work towards valued goals.[15]
Applications
Compassion focused therapy has been investigated as a novel treatment for several different psychological disorders. A 2012 randomized controlled trial showed CFT to be a safe and clinically effective treatment option for psychosis patients.[16] CFT was shown to be more effective than “treatment as usual,” with particular efficacy in reducing depression symptoms.[16] A further 2015 literature review of 14 different studies showed promising psychotherapeutic benefits of CFT, especially when treating mood disorders.[17] However, further large-scale trials are necessary in order for CFT to become an accepted, “evidence-based” treatment for these disorders.[17]
CFT has also been explored as a treatment for individuals with eating disorders. This slightly modified version of CFT, CFT-E, has had promising results in treating adult outpatients with restrictive eating disorders as well as with binging and purging disorders.[18] A 2014 literature review found CFT-E to be a particularly effective treatment for eating disorders due to the fact that it confronts the “high levels of shame and self‐criticism” that patients often experience.[18] More recent primary studies have further proved CFT-E to be a safe and effective intervention for eating disorders.[19]
CFT is also being studied as a rehabilitation method for patients with acquired brain injuries (ABI). Preliminary, small-scale studies have shown CFT to be safe and beneficial in treating anxiety and depressive symptoms of ABI patients, although further large-scale studies are needed.[20]
Limitations
Beaumont and Hollins Martin (2015)[21] examine narrative reviews of 12 research findings that has shown use of CFT to treat and experiment with psychological outcomes in clinical populations. The researchers found that overall, there are improvements of mental health issues with CFT intervention, but is most effective when combined with approaches such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).[21]
Beaumont and Hollins Martin (2015) found a major limitation in the empirical studies are the small number of participants involved in each case. For instance, Gilbert and Proctor (2006) showed small reductions in depression, anxiety, self-criticism and shame, however their participant group involved only 6 members.[22] The small number of participants can cause bias or facilitate a problem of generalisation for the broader population. For instance, out of the twelve studies only two individually supported effectiveness of CFT. A study conducted by Lucre and Corten (2012)[23] found CFT to be effective for treating patients with only personality disorders, and another study by Heriot-Maitland et,al. (2014)[24] found that treating clients in acute inpatient settings was effective.[21]
Compassion focused therapy may involve weekly hours of long therapeutic sessions for several months and depending on severity, it could take months as well. Further, the sessions may be expensive, however, some Medicare options provide deductions or partial refunds for visits to clinical psychologists, psychologists and therapists. Australia’s Medicare provides this under the Better Access to Mental Health Care scheme.[25] Due to this style of therapy being fairly new, not all health insurance providers will subsidize clinical visits.
Recommendations
The findings of Beaumont and Hollins Martin (2015) recommended that the effectiveness of CFT needs further extensive research in order to fully examine reductions in mental illnesses and overall improvements in quality of life.[21] This study recommends for consideration of larger samples of participants in order to ensure that CFT can be independently effective without other psychotherapy interventions involved such as CBT.
References
- ^ a b c Gilbert 2009, p. 199
- ^ Gilbert 2010b
- ^ Gilbert 2009, p. 208
- ^ Gilbert 2009, p. 200; Gilbert 2010a, p. 43
- ^ Gilbert 2010a, p. 59
- ^ Gilbert 2010c
- ^ For example: MacBeth & Gumley 2012; Van Dam et al. 2011
- ^ Kaufman 1989; Schore 1998
- ^ Gilbert & Irons 2013, p. 317
- ^ "Compassion-Focused Therapy". Breakthrough Psychology Practice. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ Jacobs, Andrew M. (2014). Treating Psychosis : a Clinician's Guide to Integrating Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Compassion-Focused Therapy, and Mindfulness Approaches within the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Tradition. Hopton, Jennifer., Davies, David., Wright, Nicola P., Kelly, Owen P., Turkington, Douglas. Oakland: New Harbinger Publications. p. 4. ISBN 9781608824083. OCLC 881571856.
- ^ a b Kolts, Russell (2016). CFT made simple : a clinician's guide to practicing compassion-focused therapy. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, Inc. p. 3. ISBN 9781626253094. OCLC 914290386.
- ^ a b c d Gilbert, Paul; Irons, Chris (2015). "Compassion Focused Therapy". The beginner's guide to counselling and psychotherapy. Palmer, Stephen, 1955- (2nd edition ed.). Los Angeles: SAGE Publications Ltd. p. 5. ISBN 9780857022349. OCLC 905565554.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help) - ^ a b c d Gilbert, Paul; Irons, Chris (2015). "Compassion Focused Therapy". The beginner's guide to counselling and psychotherapy. Palmer, Stephen, 1955- (2nd edition ed.). Los Angeles: SAGE Publications Ltd. p. 3. ISBN 9780857022349. OCLC 905565554.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help) - ^ Jacobs, Andrew M. (2014). Treating Psychosis : a Clinician's Guide to Integrating Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Compassion-Focused Therapy, and Mindfulness Approaches within the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Tradition. Hopton, Jennifer., Davies, David., Wright, Nicola P., Kelly, Owen P., Turkington, Douglas. Oakland: New Harbinger Publications. p. 11. ISBN 9781608824083. OCLC 881571856.
- ^ a b Braehler, Christine; Gumley, Andrew; Harper, Janice; Wallace, Sonia; Norrie, John; Gilbert, Paul (24 October 2012). "Exploring change processes in compassion focused therapy in psychosis: Results of a feasibility randomized controlled trial". Clinical Psychology. 52 (2). doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/bjc.12009.
{{cite journal}}: Check|doi=value (help); External link in|doi= - ^ a b Leaviss, J; Uttley, L. "Psychotherapeutic benefits of compassion-focused therapy: an early systematic review". Psychological Medicine. 45 (5): 927–945. doi:10.1017/S0033291714002141.
- ^ a b Goss, K; Allan, S (21 February 2014). "The development and application of compassion-focused therapy for eating disorders (CFT-E)". British Journal of Clinical Psychology. 53 (1). doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/bjc.12039.
{{cite journal}}: Check|doi=value (help); External link in|doi= - ^ Kelly, Allison Catherine; Lucene, Wisniewski; Ellen, Hoffman (30 May 2016). "Group-Based Compassion-Focused Therapy as an Adjunct to Outpatient Treatment for Eating Disorders: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial". Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy. 24 (2). doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.2018.
{{cite journal}}: Check|doi=value (help); External link in|doi= - ^ Ashworth, Fiona; Clarke, Alexis; Jones, Lisa; Jennings, Caroline; Longworth, Catherine (15 August 2014). "An exploration of compassion focused therapy following acquired brain injury". Psychology and Psychotherapy. 88 (2). doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/papt.12037.
{{cite journal}}: Check|doi=value (help); External link in|doi= - ^ a b c d Beaumont, Elaine; Hollins Martin, Caroline (2015). "A narrative review exploring the effectiveness of Compassion-Focused Therapy". The British Psychological Society.
- ^ Gilbert, Paul; Proctor, Sue (2006). "Compassionate mind training for people with high shame and self-criticism: Overview and pilot study of a group therapy approach". British Journal of Clinical Psychology: 353-379.
- ^ Lucre, K.; Corten, N. (2012). "An exploration of group compassion-focused therapy for personality disorder". The British Psychological Society.: 387–400. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8341.2012.02068.x.
- ^ Heriot-Maitland, C.; Vidal, J.B; Ball, S.; Irons, C. (2014). "A compassionate-focused therapy group approach for acute inpatients: Feasibility, initial pilot outcome data, and recommendations". The British Psychological Society. doi:10.1111/bjc.12040.
- ^ Compassion Focused Therapy https://bluepages.anu.edu.au/index.php?id=compassion-focused-therapy.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help)
- Gilbert, Paul (2009). "Introducing compassion-focused therapy" (PDF). BJPsych Advances in Psychiatric Treatment. 15: 199–208. doi:10.1192/apt.bp.107.005264.
{{cite journal}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Gilbert, Paul (2010a). Compassion focused therapy: distinctive features. The CBT distinctive features series. London; New York: Routledge. ISBN 9780415448079. OCLC 463971957.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Gilbert, Paul (2010b). The compassionate mind: a new approach to life's challenges. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications. ISBN 9781572248403. OCLC 436624753.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Gilbert, Paul (2010c). "An introduction to compassion focused therapy in cognitive behavior therapy". International Journal of Cognitive Therapy. 3 (2): 97–112. doi:10.1521/ijct.2010.3.2.97.
{{cite journal}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Gilbert, Paul; Irons, Chris (2013). "Compassion-focused therapy". In Dryden, Windy; Reeves, Andrew (eds.). The handbook of individual therapy (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. pp. 301–328. ISBN 9781446201367. OCLC 858825414.
{{cite book}}: External link in|chapterurl=|ref=harv(help); Unknown parameter|chapterurl=ignored (|chapter-url=suggested) (help) - Kaufman, Gershen (1989). The psychology of shame: theory and treatment of shame-based syndromes. New York: Springer. ISBN 0826166709. OCLC 18740186.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - MacBeth, Angus; Gumley, Andrew (August 2012). "Exploring compassion: a meta-analysis of the association between self-compassion and psychopathology" (PDF). Clinical Psychology Review. 32 (6): 545–552. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2012.06.003.
{{cite journal}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Schore, Allan N (1998). "Early shame experiences and infant brain development". In Gilbert, Paul; Andrews, Bernice (eds.). Shame: interpersonal behavior, psychopathology, and culture. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 57–77. ISBN 0195114795. OCLC 37878725.
{{cite book}}: External link in|chapterurl=|ref=harv(help); Unknown parameter|chapterurl=ignored (|chapter-url=suggested) (help) - Van Dam, Nicholas T; Sheppard, Sean C; Forsyth, John P; Earleywine, Mitch (January 2011). "Self-compassion is a better predictor than mindfulness of symptom severity and quality of life in mixed anxiety and depression" (PDF). Journal of Anxiety Disorders. 25 (1): 123–130. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2010.08.011.
{{cite journal}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help)CS1 maint: year (link)
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