Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Int J Eat Disord. 2018 Aug;51(8):1005-1009. doi: 10.1002/eat.22930. Epub 2018 Aug 13.
Most individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) do not seek treatment and shame is a common barrier. This study sought to determine whether a brief intervention designed to foster self-compassion would reduce shame and increase treatment motivation among nontreatment seeking individuals with AN.
Forty nontreatment seeking females with AN (75%) and atypical AN were randomly assigned to 2 weeks of a daily self-compassionate letter-writing intervention or a waitlist control condition. All participants completed pre, mid, and post questionnaires, and were weighed pre and post.
The intervention yielded respectable credibility ratings and compliance and retained 95% of participants. Compared to the control condition, it produced greater increases in self-compassion and greater decreases in shame and fears of self-compassion. BMI and readiness to get help for one's eating decreased in the control condition but did not change significantly in the intervention condition, though the motivation for treatment showed a trend toward increasing. Changes in eating pathology and readiness to get help for one's weight did not differ between conditions.
Self-compassionate letter-writing may be an acceptable and feasible intervention for nontreatment seeking individuals with AN and might reduce certain barriers to help-seeking while improving psychological functioning.
大多数神经性厌食症（AN）患者并不寻求治疗，而羞耻感是一个常见的障碍。本研究旨在确定一种旨在培养自我同情的简短干预措施是否会减少羞耻感并增加非治疗寻求的 AN 个体的治疗动机。
40 名非治疗寻求的女性 AN（75%）和非典型 AN 患者被随机分配到为期 2 周的每日自我同情信件写作干预组或等待名单对照组。所有参与者都在干预前、干预中和干预后完成了问卷调查，并在干预前和干预后进行了称重。
该干预措施获得了令人尊敬的可信度评分和依从性，并保留了 95%的参与者。与对照组相比，它使自我同情感显著增加，羞耻感和自我同情恐惧显著降低。对照组的 BMI 和寻求治疗的意愿有所下降，但干预组的 BMI 和寻求治疗的意愿并没有显著变化，尽管治疗动机呈上升趋势。饮食病理学和寻求治疗体重的意愿变化在两组之间没有差异。
自我同情的信件写作可能是一种可接受和可行的非治疗寻求的 AN 个体的干预措施，可能会减少某些寻求帮助的障碍，同时改善心理功能。
