Compassion and self-compassion

Since last time we looked at bullying and anger, today we’re looking at compassion and self-compassion. First, Sun, Wu & Goodwin (2025) published “Are Moral People Happier? Answers from reputation-based measures of moral character” in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Here’s the edited abstract:

Philosophers have long debated whether moral virtue contributes to happiness or whether morality and happiness are in conflict. Yet, little empirical research directly addresses this question. Here, we examined the association between reputation-based measures of everyday moral character (operationalized as a composite of widely accepted moral virtues such as compassion, honesty, and fairness) and self-reported well-being across two cultures. In Study 1, close others reported on U.S. undergraduate students’ moral character (two samples; Ns = 221/286). In Study 2, Chinese employees (N = 711) reported on their coworkers’ moral character and their own well-being. To better sample the moral extremes, in Study 3, U.S. participants nominated “targets” who were among the most moral, least moral, and morally average people they personally knew. Targets (N = 281) self-reported their well-being and nominated informants who provided a second, continuous measure of the targets’ moral character. These studies showed that those who are more moral in the eyes of close others, coworkers, and acquaintances generally experience a greater sense of subjective well-being and meaning in life. These associations were generally robust when controlling for key demographic variables (including religiosity) and informant-reported liking. There were no significant differences in the strength of the associations between moral character and well-being across two major subdimensions of both moral character (kindness and integrity) and well-being (subjective well-being and meaning in life). Together, these studies provide the most comprehensive evidence to date of a positive and general association between everyday moral character and well-being. 

I mentioned last time my concerns about anger and hate. It’s refreshing to have evidence that compassion, honesty, and fairness matter. The next study looks at compassion-focused imagery as and intervention. Varley, Sherwell & Kirby (2024) published “Compassion Focused Imagery Reduces Fears of Compassion Irrespective of Attachment” in Journal of Counseling Psychology. Here are the edited abstract and public significance statement:

The present study evaluated the efficacy of a brief compassion-focused imagery intervention for reducing fears of compassion. This study also examined whether individual differences in attachment would influence treatment effectiveness. We randomly assigned a nonclinical sample of 125 community-dwelling adults to a control group or an intervention group. Those in the intervention group completed a brief intervention involving daily compassionate imagery exercises for 1 week. Those who completed the intervention demonstrated significant reductions in fears of compassion for others, fears of compassion from others, and fears of self-compassion, irrespective of differences in attachment. These findings support the efficacy of compassion-focused imagery exercises in reducing fears of compassion across attachment patterns, suggesting their potential value for enhancing mental well-being.

By evaluating a brief compassionate imagery intervention, this study demonstrates the potential utility of a brief self-administrable intervention for alleviating fears of compassion in those with secure and insecure attachments alike. Our findings indicated that fears of compassion from others, compassion for others, and self-compassion were all reduced by the intervention. This provides a valuable, easy-to-implement tool that could be utilized to alleviate fears of compassion—a construct which is known to be associated with reduced mental well-being.

We identified that a brief, self-administered CFT intervention involving 1 week of daily engagement with a self-compassionate imagery exercise significantly reduced fears of self-compassion, fears of compassion for others, and fears of compassion from others. We demonstrated that these results were consistent across individual differences in attachment, indicating that this type of intervention is suitable for those with secure and insecure attachments alike. These findings provide encouraging evidence for the suitability of CFT approaches for those with insecure attachments, especially given that those with insecure attachments are more likely to experience elevated fears of compassion. These findings suggest that this type of CFT intervention reduces fears of compassion even in a brief timeframe and without necessitating face-to-face clinician guidance. We recommend that future research further develops and investigates the efficacy and feasibility of such approaches as brief, self-administrable interventions or, potentially, as adjuncts to traditional therapy.

I hadn’t read about fear of compassion but it makes some sense to me given fears of being taken advantage of. I especially liked the fact that the intervention benefited people regardless of attachment status. The next study also looks at fear of compassion. Melsom, Ulvenes, Solbakken, Curran, Eielsen & Wampold (2023) published “Self-Compassion and Fear of Compassion in the Treatment of Chronic Depression: Mechanisms of change?” in Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.  The edited abstract and impact statement follow:

The aim of this naturalistic process study was to investigate the relationship between self-compassion, fear of compassion from others, and depressive symptoms over the course of psychotherapy in patients with chronic depression. A sample of 226 patients with chronic depression who received inpatient short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (STPP) provided weekly self-report measures of self-compassion, fear of compassion, and depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire–9). Trivariate latent curve modeling with structured residuals was applied to investigate the between- and within-patient relationships among the variables. At the between-patient level, a significant positive correlation was found between slope of depression and the slope of fear of compassion. At the within-patient level, a lower than expected level of fear of compassion predicted a subsequent lower than expected level of depression (mean weekly effect size = 0.12), with a smaller reciprocal relationship (mean weekly effect size = 0.08). There was no significant within-patient effect of self-compassion predicting subsequent depression, but a significant effect of a lower than expected level of depression predicting a subsequent higher than expected level of self-compassion (mean weekly effect size = −0.13). No within-patient effect between self-compassion and fear of compassion was found. In the context of this study, it appears that fear of compassion may be a putative mechanism of change involved in alleviating depressive symptoms in patients with chronic depression treated with STPP. On the other hand, self-compassion appears to be an outcome of psychotherapy. 

This study suggests that reducing fear of compassion from others may facilitate depressive symptom reduction in patients with chronic depression treated with short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy in a multimodal inpatient program. Furthermore, a reduction in depressive symptoms will enable patients to increase self-compassion toward themselves. Hence, a therapeutic focus on reducing fear of compassion may be one meaningful and beneficial strategy to reduce depressive symptoms and improve self-compassion in patients with chronic depression. 

I found this one interesting in terms of fear of compassion from others. It makes sense that highly depressed people may benefit from interventions to reduce fear of compassion and increase self-compassion. Finally, we’re looking at awe and self-compassion. Yuan, Chang, Jiang & Jiang (2025) published “Be Kinder to Yourself: Awe promotes self-compassion via self-transcendence” in Emotion. Here’s the edited abstract:

Deficits in self-compassion heighten the vulnerability of mental disorders and jeopardize well-being, emphasizing the necessity of fostering self-compassion during unexpected suffering. In this research, we investigate awe as an antecedent for promptly promoting self-compassion. Across five studies (three preregistered), employing various self-compassion metrics (self-report scale and behaviors) and testing in both controlled and natural settings, we found that awe was positively associated with, or promoted, self-reported self-compassion (Studies 1, 2, 4, and 5) and self-compassionate behaviors in real life (Study 5). These effects were distinct from general positive emotions (Studies 1 and 4) or nature exposure (Study 4). We further found that self-transcendence mediated this effect (Studies 2, 4, and 5) beyond self-diminishment (Study 4) and had a causal effect on promoting self-compassion (Study 3). These findings imply that awe enhances self-compassion via self-transcendence. 

It seemed to me that these studies nicely complement the first two in illustrating the power of awe and self-compassion. As someone who mostly experiences awe in nature, I like the fact that it didn’t matter whether or not the experiences of awe were in nature. In a world in which unexpected suffering is all too commonplace, this is reassuring.