ACT With Compassion

A number of standardized assessments exist that may be useful in working with highly self-critical and shame prone clients. These measures can be used for obtaining initial normative assessments as well as tracking change in therapy over time. Some of these measures may even have predictive utility. For example, the hated-self subscale from the Forms of Self-Criticism and Reassuring Scale seems to respond more slowly to interventions aimed at reducing self-criticism, suggesting that highly self-loathing and self-hating clients may need more time in therapy to develop self-compassion. In our practice, we often give three measures to clients at intake and periodically throughout therapy. We typically discuss the results in some detail as part of their ongoing conceptualization. These are the three we give to clients:

Each month we highlight some practical resources for therapists interested in compassion. Our aim here is to provide a brief overview and offer you a few resources where you can find out more information if these ideas are of interest to you.

Every month, we scour the scientific literature for interesting studies that have practical implications for therapists working with shame, self-criticism, or compassion. Below are a few of our favorites for this month:

One of the processes that allows for the development of self-compassion in highly shame-prone and self-critical people is the ability to take the perspective of a warm and caring other person. Therapists are often able to offer that caring perspective on the client’s experience. We at ACT with Compassion encourage therapists (including ourselves) to intend to see the client as whole, complete, and perfect even when, and perhaps especially during the times when the client sees himself as flawed, broken, or unlovable. Therapists may use self-disclosure to help the client access a warmer perspective on their own experience, or they may invite the client to physically sit in their seat and look at their own experience from the therapist perspective.

Each month we highlight some practical resources for therapists interested in compassion. Our aim here is to provide a brief overview and offer you a few resources where you can find out more information if these ideas are of interest to you.

Every month, we scour the scientific literature for interesting studies that have practical implications for therapists working with shame, self-criticism, or compassion. Below are a few of our favorites for this month:

A few weeks ago, a client of mine expressed frustration that there are no public child abuse memorials. She asked, “Why are there war memorials, AIDS quilts, breast cancer ribbons, but nothing for child abuse?” Her question echoed a statement by Judith Herman in her book Trauma and Recovery from the early 1990s. Herman states, “The most common trauma of women remains confined to the sphere of private life, without formal recognition or restitution from the community. There is no public monument for rape survivors.” Although Herman focuses on sexual assault of women and my client was focusing on child abuse, both point to the common theme of the lack of public recognition of relational trauma.

Each month we highlight some practical resources for therapists interested in compassion. We don’t go into great depth about what we find, but encourage you to check them out if you think they’re interesting.

Every month, we scour the scientific literature for interesting studies that have practical implications for therapists working with shame, self-criticism, or compassion. Below are a few of our favorites for this month:

Shame is fundamentally disconnecting. The person feeling shame is often acutely aware of their own perceived flaws and inadequacies, and may misinterpret attempts from others to connect with them. For example, a person feeling shame may interpret another’s warm smile as condescending or ridiculing. Or they may accurately interpret the other person’s caring expression, but be so locked into their own internal experience that they are not able to feel the other person’s warmth or benefit from it.