title: Adaptive emotion regulation mediates the relationship between self-compassion and depression in individuals with unipolar depression.
abstract: To identify the mechanisms involved in the association between self-compassion and depression, we examined whether adaptive emotion regulation would mediate the relationship between self-compassion and depression in individuals with unipolar depression. Furthermore, we explored which specific emotion regulation skills would be most important in this relationship.
  
  
  
  Sixty-nine individuals with unipolar depression were assessed with the Self-Compassion Scale and the Emotion Regulation Skills Questionnaire at baseline and with the Beck Depression Inventory-II 1 week later.
  
  
  
  The results showed that successful application of emotion regulation skills mediates the association between self-compassion and depression. Among eight specific emotion regulation skills, only the ability to tolerate negative emotions was identified as a significant mediator in the self-compassion-depression relationship.
  
  
  
  These findings provide preliminary evidence that systematically fostering self-compassion might help depressed individuals cope with their symptoms by enhancing their abilities to tolerate undesired emotions.
  
  
  
  Systematically fostering self-compassion through specific compassion-focused interventions might facilitate a reduction in depressive symptoms by improving the person's emotion regulation abilities, especially by improving his or her ability to tolerate negative emotions. Hence, compassion-focused interventions might be particularly promising in depressed patients with a tendency to avoid negative emotions and deficits in tolerating them.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Munich (LMU), Germany.
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Diedrich
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Julian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Burger
authors.affiliation: CIP Psychosomatic Day Clinic, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Mareike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kirchner
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Berking
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D000328:Adult; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D004645:Empathy / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012649:Self Concept; D000068356:Self-Control / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: depression; emotion regulation; mediator; self-compassion; unipolar depression