title: Self-compassion in depression: associations with depressive symptoms, rumination, and avoidance in depressed outpatients.
abstract: Self-compassion involves being kind to oneself when challenged with personal weaknesses or hardship and has been claimed to be associated with resilience in various areas. So far, there are only a handful of studies that investigate self-compassion and its relation to clinical depression. Therefore, the principal goals of the present study were (a) to compare self-compassion in clinically depressed patients and never-depressed subjects, (b) to investigate self-compassion and its relation to cognitive-behavioral avoidance and rumination in depressed outpatients, and (c) to investigate rumination and avoidance as mediators of the relationship between self-compassion and depressive symptoms. One hundred and forty-two depressed outpatients and 120 never-depressed individuals from a community sample completed a self-report measure of self-compassion along with other measures. Results indicate that depressed patients showed lower levels of self-compassion than never-depressed individuals, even when controlled for depressive symptoms. In depressed outpatients, self-compassion was negatively related to depressive symptoms, symptom-focused rumination, as well as cognitive and behavioral avoidance. Additionally, symptom-focused rumination and cognitive and behavioral avoidance mediated the relationship between self-compassion and depressive symptoms. These findings extend previous research on self-compassion, its relation to depression, as well as processes mediating this relationship, and highlight the importance of self-compassion in clinically depressed patients. Since depressed patients seem to have difficulties adopting a self-compassionate attitude, psychotherapists are well advised to explore and address how depressed patients treat themselves.
authors.affiliation: University of Zurich. tobias.krieger@psychologie.uzh.ch
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Krieger
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Altenstein
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Baettig
authors.forename: Nadja
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Doerig
authors.forename: Martin Grosse
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Holtforth
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010045:Outpatients / Q000523:psychology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D057566:Self Report; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013850:Thinking