Centre for eHealth and Well-being Research, Department of Psychology, Health and Technology, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands.
Roessingh Research and Development, Enschede, The Netherlands.
Psychol Psychother. 2020 Sep;93(3):555-571. doi: 10.1111/papt.12235. Epub 2019 May 22.
The conceptual approach of compassion underlying compassion-focused therapy (CFT) is based on theoretical rather than empirical grounds. The aim of the present study was to seek empirical support for components of compassion as outlined in the theoretical model underpinning CFT, and to explore which components, if any, matter most for improving well-being.
A sequential exploratory mixed methods design was employed.
Alongside a randomized controlled trial (RCT), we systematically examined 625 emails sent by 87 RCT participants to five counsellors during the course of a well-being enhancing CFT self-help intervention, to identify theoretically based compassionate attributes and skills. Next, in a quantitative analysis, we compared participants who did and did not show clinically relevant improvement on well-being with regard to the occurrence of compassionate attributes and skills.
Although the theoretical model of compassion integral to CFT was largely supported by the emails, it was slightly simplified so as to better fit the data. The adjusted model comprises five compassionate attributes (i.e., care for well-being, sensitivity, empathy, distress tolerance, and common humanity) and four compassionate skills (i.e., compassionate attention, reasoning, behaviour, and feeling/sensation). Three illustrative cases are presented to contribute to a better understanding of fundamental components of compassion. Quantitative analyses indicate that participants showing clinically relevant improvement on well-being expressed significantly more compassionate feeling/sensation compared to those who did not.
We found preliminary evidence for the conceptualization of compassion underlying CFT. Compassionate feeling/sensation bears particular interest when well-being is the intended outcome of CFT.
Individuals participating in compassion-focused therapy for enhancing well-being experience a wide range of compassionate attributes and skills. Compassion-focused therapy may instigate well-being if a client is able to experience compassionate feeling/sensation.
共情焦点疗法（CFT）所基于的同情心概念方法是基于理论而非经验依据。本研究旨在寻求对 CFT 理论模型中概述的同情成分的经验支持，并探索哪些成分（如果有的话）对改善幸福感最为重要。
采用顺序探索性混合方法设计。
在一项随机对照试验（RCT）的同时，我们系统地检查了 87 名 RCT 参与者在一项幸福感增强的 CFT 自助干预过程中向五名顾问发送的 625 封电子邮件，以确定基于理论的同情心属性和技能。接下来，在一项定量分析中，我们比较了在幸福感方面表现出和未表现出临床相关改善的参与者，比较了他们是否表现出了同情心属性和技能。
尽管 CFT 中包含的同情心理论模型在很大程度上得到了电子邮件的支持，但它还是稍作简化，以更好地适应数据。调整后的模型包括五个同情心属性（即关心幸福感、敏感性、同理心、耐痛苦和共同人性）和四个同情心技能（即同情心注意力、推理、行为和感受/感觉）。三个说明性案例被提出，以帮助更好地理解同情心的基本成分。定量分析表明，与那些没有表现出临床相关改善的人相比，在幸福感方面表现出临床相关改善的参与者表现出更多的同情心感受/感觉。
我们发现了 CFT 所基于的同情心概念化的初步证据。在 CFT 旨在提高幸福感的情况下，同情心感受/感觉具有特别的意义。
参与以增强幸福感为目的的共情焦点疗法的个体经历了广泛的同情属性和技能。如果客户能够体验到同情心感受/感觉，共情焦点疗法可能会引发幸福感。
