Gerdes Samantha, Williams Huw, Karl Anke
Mood Disorder Centre, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom.
The Veterans' Mental Health and Wellbeing Service, Camden and Islington NHS Trust, London, United Kingdom.
Front Psychol. 2022 Jan 18;12:780319. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.780319. eCollection 2021.
Armed Forces personnel are exposed to traumatic experiences during their work; therefore, they are at risk of developing emotional difficulties such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), following traumatic experiences. Despite evidence to suggest that self-compassion is effective in reducing the symptoms of PTSD, and greater levels of self-compassion are associated with enhanced resilience, self-compassion in armed forces personnel and armed forces veterans remains under-researched. As a result, it is not known if therapeutic approaches that use self-compassion interventions are an acceptable and effective treatment for this population. Having previously shown that a one-off self-compassion exercise has temporary beneficial psychophysiological effects in non-clinical participants, we conducted this proof-of concept study to investigate whether this exercise is equally beneficial in veterans who had experienced deployment to a combat zone. Additionally, we examined if brief a self-compassion exercise can temporarily reduce hyperarousal symptoms and increase feelings of social connectedness. The current study also investigated the association between PTSD symptom severity, emotion regulation, and self-compassion in 56 veterans. All participants listened to a loving-kindness meditation for self-compassion (LKM-S) and psychophysiological recordings were taken throughout. Psychophysiological effects were observed including heart-rate (HR), skin conductance (SCL), and heart-rate variability (HRV) to determine associations with PTSD and changes in response associated with the self-compassion induction. PTSD symptom severity, dispositional emotion regulation, and self-compassion were measured, and participants also completed state measures of hyperarousal and social connectedness before and after the LKM-S. The findings partially demonstrated that self-compassion can be elicited in a veteran population but there were considerable individual differences in psychophysiological responses. The findings are discussed in light of existing theories of PTSD and self-compassion and the implications of using self-compassion based psychological approaches with veterans.
武装部队人员在工作期间会接触到创伤性经历；因此，他们在经历创伤性事件后有出现诸如创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）等情绪问题的风险。尽管有证据表明自我同情在减轻PTSD症状方面有效，且更高水平的自我同情与更强的恢复力相关，但武装部队人员和退伍军人的自我同情仍未得到充分研究。因此，尚不清楚使用自我同情干预措施的治疗方法对这一群体是否是可接受且有效的治疗方法。此前已表明一次性的自我同情练习在非临床参与者中具有暂时有益的心理生理效应，我们进行了这项概念验证研究，以调查该练习对曾被部署到战区的退伍军人是否同样有益。此外，我们还研究了简短的自我同情练习是否能暂时减轻过度唤醒症状并增强社会联系感。本研究还调查了56名退伍军人中PTSD症状严重程度、情绪调节和自我同情之间的关联。所有参与者都聆听了用于自我同情的慈爱冥想（LKM-S），并全程进行心理生理记录。观察到了包括心率（HR）、皮肤电导率（SCL）和心率变异性（HRV）在内的心理生理效应，以确定与PTSD的关联以及与自我同情诱导相关的反应变化。测量了PTSD症状严重程度、特质情绪调节和自我同情，参与者还在LKM-S前后完成了过度唤醒和社会联系感的状态测量。研究结果部分表明，自我同情可以在退伍军人群体中引发，但心理生理反应存在相当大的个体差异。将根据现有的PTSD和自我同情理论以及对退伍军人使用基于自我同情的心理方法的意义来讨论这些发现。
