At a glance
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Physiological Response to Self-compassion Versus Relaxation in a Clinical Population
In Brief
A clinical study evaluating Compassion focused imagery, relaxation imagery and control task for Depression and Anxiety Disorders. Completed, enrolled 25 participants across 1 site.
Detailed Summary
Compassion-focused imagery (CFI, in which one imagines receiving or giving compassion) can be an effective emotion-regulation technique but some individuals respond as if it is a threat. However, these findings have been based on tasks involving receiving compassion from others. This study sought to examine whether CFI involving self-compassion is less threatening than relaxation and whether any threat-responses decrease with practice. This study will compare the effects of CFI, relaxation and a control task and will explore their effects on self-report symptoms and physiology. It is hypothesized that CFI involving self-compassion is less threatening than relaxation and that any threat-responses decrease with practice.
Study Details
Timeline
Interventions
Participants will engage in three tasks (control task, relaxation imagery, and CFI) every three days on a total of 3-4 occasions. Audio-recordings of scripts will be used for both relaxation and compassion imagery. The 4-minute relaxation imagery will involve the following components (i) breathing deeply and bringing mindful awareness to the breath, (ii) relaxing the body, (iii) multisensory mental imagery of a beach or a forest, (iv) noticing feelings that arise. The 4-minute self-compassion imagery scripts will involve the following components: (i) informing participants that showing ourselves self-compassion is an effective emotional-regulation tool, (ii) breathing deeply and attending mindfully to the breath, (iii) imagining oneself embodying the four characteristics of compassion according to Gilbert5, (iv) imagine wishing oneself free of suffering using a warm voice tone and (v) noticing feelings that arise. The control task will involve reading a local city culture magazine.