Many researches deal with a wide range of cause of anxiety disorders, which may include various untreated traumas, physiological causes, cognitive distortion or learned reactions. Anxiety disorders tend to create so-called the vicious circle of stress and anxiety that closes the patients, leads them to social isolation and gradual loss of life certainty. Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental illness. Major types are introduced in the thesis and they are connected with the concepts of self- compassion, shame-proneness and guilt-proneness, which have been studied abroad in recent years. The research part then brings the results of the role of self-compassion, shame- proneness and guilt-proneness in experiencing clinical anxiety, confirming the assumption that patients suffering from anxiety show a significantly lower level of self- compassion, a higher shame-proneness and internalized shame. Guilt-proneness does not show a relation with self-compassion. Details are discoussed. Key words: anxiety self-compassion shame internalized shame guilt

Well-being is a human goal globally and has been considered so since the early days of philosophical thought. As the science of well-being has grown the last decades, well-being has widely been agreed to consist of two core components: Hedonic well-being and Eudaimonic well-being. These components have been studied to a large extent and further explored, conceptualized, and divided. How components of well-being interrelate is still being explored, as well of what drivers there are of experiencing well-being.Self-compassion is a relatively new field within psychology and cognitive neuroscience research which has been linked to components of well-being. Thus, the first aim of this study was to provide a theoretical overview of previous studies of the relationship between well-being and self-compassion. As research of self-compassion is still in its infancy, there are yet very few studies on self-compassion and its relationship to well-being in different cultures. The concept stems from East-Asian culture, and if self-compassion is important for well-being globally, or if it is depending on difference in culture, has been discussed. Hence, the second aim was to explore if there would be a potential relationship between self-compassion and well-being in a Cuban sample, as there is a lack of research in that region. 200 university students in Havana participated and filled in a questionnaire regarding subjective well-being, psychological well-being, and self-compassion. Results revealed that there was a significant relationship between well-being and self-compassion, and especially between psychological well-being and self-compassion. Components of well-being correlated with each other as well. These results go in line with previous research. Hence the present study suggests that the patterns of correlations between self-compassion and well-being is similar in Cuban university students as in other cultures studied so far.

No description available.

No description available.

The cognitions of individuals who experience symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress have been well documented, but their physiological reactions have not. The present study examines the physiological reactions of individuals with elevated levels of depression, anxiety, and stress during a self-critical and self-compassionate writing exercise to see if there is a difference in comparison to healthy participants. This study is a secondary analysis of data that was collected from a randomized controlled trial where participants followed a protocol. This protocol consisted of a 5-minute baseline, a 10-minute breathing exercise or nature video, 5-minutes of a self-critical writing exercise, 5-minutes of a self-compassionate writing exercise, and a 10-minute recovery period. The individuals in the study were separated into different groups depending on their scores on a measure of depression, anxiety, and stress. The data were analyzed twice with two different grouping methods. One method compared individuals with mild to severe symptoms of depression (35 individuals), anxiety (43 individuals), and stress (33 individuals) to healthy group (26 individuals) and another method compared individuals with moderate to severe symptoms of depression (28 individuals), anxiety (36 individuals), and stress (24 individuals) to 44 healthy individuals. In both methods, the participants with symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress did not significantly differ from healthy participants on any measure of HRV (e.g., SDNN, LF HRV, HF HRV). Overall, the results of this show that college students with symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress physiologically react in a similar way to a self-critical and self-compassionate writing exercise.

This study examined the efficacy of the My Best Self 101 (MBS101) self-compassion module, an internet-delivered self-compassion training within a non-clinical general population sample. Using a randomized-waitlist control design, this study examined whether module participants experienced significant improvements in self-compassion, well-being, and body image compared to waitlist controls. Participants were 228 adults (mean age 30.3, 23.5% male and 76.5% female). At pretest and posttest, both groups completed self-report measures of self-compassion, subjective well-being, and body image. Repeated measures mixed model analyses revealed that compared to waitlist controls, participants who used the MBS101 self-compassion module reported significant improvements in self-compassion, well-being, and body image with effect sizes ranging from medium to large. These results lend evidence to support the MBS101 self-compassion module as a promising resource to improve well-being and body image. Future research should examine its efficacy in different populations and focus on expanding its content.

"In this study we sought to compare eating disorder attitudes and behaviors, and proneness to an eating disorder ("ED proneness"), between gay men, lesbian women, and transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) adults. A further aim was to identify and compare risk and protective factors, and examine a mediational model based on the interpersonal theory of eating disorders (IPT-ED), whereby the association between interpersonal factors and ED proneness would be mediated by psychological constructs pertaining to the self and negative affect. Data was obtained from a larger national study of health risk and protective factors among sexual minority and gender diverse populations. The sample included 97 gay men, 82 lesbian women, and 138 TGNC adults. Participants completed the National College Health Assessment, Eating Disorders Screen for Primary Care, Patient Health Questionnaire Depression scale, Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 scale, Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form, Negative Social Exchange subscale of the Multidimensional Health Profile, Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire, and Perceived Stigma Scale. There was a significant difference between groups in ED proneness, with lesbian women (66.7%) having a significantly higher percentage than gay men (47.6%). There was also a significant difference between groups in weight-based self-worth, with the lowest percentage in gay men (63%) and the highest percentage in lesbian women (82%), as well as dissatisfaction with eating patterns, with the highest percentage in TGNC adults (69.8%) and the lowest percentage in gay men (47.7%). There was a low percentage of inappropriate compensatory behaviors, with no significant difference between groups. Logistic regression analyses showed that the predictor variables of ED proneness were depression, perceived stigma, and self-compassion in gay men; depression in lesbian women; and self-compassion in the TGNC adults. Mediation analyses showed that thwarted belongingness (i.e., an unmet to belong) and perceived stigma had an indirect association with ED proneness that was mediated by self-compassion and depression (for perceived stigma alone) in gay men, depression in lesbian women, and self-compassion in TGNC adults. The interpersonal theory of eating disorders therefore extends to sexual minority and gender diverse populations; however, the results suggest a broadening of theoretical models and intervention programs to include the role of stigma and self-compassion."

Suicide is a significant public health concern. Risk factors include depression, anxiety, hopelessness, being college-aged, and chronic illness. Self-compassion may reduce risk. We examined the relation between self-compassion and suicide risk, and the mediating effects of depression, anxiety, and hopelessness. Our cross-sectional study included four samples: community (N = 632, 51.7% female, M age = 35.91), collegiate (N = 338, 67.0% female, M age = 21.81), fibromyalgia (N = 508, 95.7% female, M age = 47.66) and cancer (N = 241, 64.3% female, M age = 61.28). Across all samples, self-compassion was related to less suicide risk (avg. r = .28), and all assessed psychopathology mediated this association. Future studies are needed to examine causal effects of study variables.

This thesis reviews the literature on theoretical cognitive neuroscientific findings linked to self-compassion, emotion regulation and compassion. Further, an empirical study was conducted with the aim to investigate correlational findings of self-compassion in relation to mental health in India. Mental health was measured through positive and negative affect, symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder and depression. The background of the thesis is mainly centred on the emotion regulation strategy cognitive reappraisal and compassion to provide more understanding of the links regarding self-compassion and mental health. The neural underpinnings regarding reappraisal and self-compassion are mostly related to dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, ventral striatum, anterior cingulate cortex, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, insula and amygdala. These regions are involved in functions such as attention, memory, reward, emotion processes and responses. The correlational study involved 91 south Indian university students between the age of 19-24 years. The most significant results indicate a strong negative relationship between self-compassion and negative affect. Self-compassion was moderately positively correlated with positive affect. Furthermore, self-compassion was moderately negatively correlated with symptoms of depression. In addition, a strong positive correlation between negative affect and symptoms of depression was found. A discussion regarding current findings in relation to the neural underpinnings of emotion regulation and self-compassion, limitations of the study as well as directions for future research is provided.

Självmedkänsla bidrar till ökat fysiskt och psykiskt välmående. Det är en faktor inom mänskliga processer. Åldrandets process kan vara fysiskt och psykiskt ansträngande, hur självmedkänsla upplevs i relation till detta är inte klargjort. Studien syftar därmed till att undersöka hur självmedkänsla upplevs i samband med fysiska och psykiska förändringar under åldrande senare i livet. Semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med 12 pensionärer i åldern 70 till 90 år. Resultatet visade att självmedkänsla upplevs i form av temana Acceptans och Strategier samt att kognitiva och fysiska förändringar kan leda till att självmedkänslan utökas. Temat Acceptans synliggjordes genom subtemana Tillåtande attityd, Vidgad horisont och Flexibelt förhållningssätt till aktivitet. Temat Strategier upplevdes genom subtemana Lösningsorienterat förhållningssätt och Vikten av mellanmänskliga möten. Genom att synliggöra hur självmedkänsla upplevs i samband med kognitiva och fysiska förändringar relaterat till åldrande kan berörda professioner arbeta med att stärka självmedkänsla hos äldre avsett att öka upplevelsen av meningsfullhet och välmående.