PREVENTION IN COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGY: - ResearchGate

Self-Compassion, Health, and Wellness in Women
compassion, and develop programs to support the utilization of
such training in health promotion and prevention for women.
Empirical studies may continue to illuminate strong relationships
between self-compassion and positive health practices, beliefs,
and attitudes. Further research is needed to demonstrate whether
this relationship might be causal, or whether raising selfcompassion
will improve a woman’s ability to make better health
choices that will lead to increased wellness. As such experimental
studies continue to shed light on these and other effects of
self-compassion, self-compassion training may be incorporated
into counseling and health interventions for women.
Research also is needed to highlight specifics about how self
-compassion may be effectively improved in women long-term.
For example, how many training sessions of what length may result
in long-lasting improved levels of self-compassion? Would
self-compassion training be more effective delivered in groups or
individually? What kind of training should be required for facilitators?
These and many other questions need to be answered before
self-compassion can be fully utilized as an effective and
trusted means to promote health and prevent disease among
women.
The existing research does suggest that self-compassion
training could be a cost-effective and brief intervention with little
to no risk for the women participating. An attractive characteristic
of self-compassion training would be the ease of delivery to
underserved and often overlooked populations in the community.
Self-compassion training could be easily provided to populations
of women who are at-risk or in greater need such as incarcerated,
impoverished, and homeless women, through services offered in
prisons or through community agencies such as the YWCA, children’s
and family services, or domestic violence agencies.
If self-compassion proves instrumental in choosing healthy
lifestyle behaviors, self-compassion training could potentially be
beneficial for any issue impacted by lifestyle. The possibilities
then are endless, and self-compassion training could positively
impact women experiencing a wide variety of obstacles to wellness,
such as anxiety, depression, substance abuse, obesity, cardiac
disease, diabetes, parenting issues, gambling, and smoking addiction,
among others. Self-compassion could be integrated into
programs aimed at broader preventive efforts in women’s health,
such as programs designed to improve inter-conception health for
women or even more general health initiatives designed to prevent
obesity or cardiac disease in women.
Mindfulness techniques and interventions have been empirically
supported as effective in the treatment of many mental
health issues such as depression and anxiety. It is possible that
practicing counseling psychologists could incorporate selfcompassion
training into their work with clients, similar to how
they may currently incorporate relaxation training, mindfulness
interventions, or other psychoeducation in therapy. Other possible
applications of self-compassion training include populations
of women who are impacted by problems with body image and/or
disordered eating behaviors. Self-compassion training could enhance
women’s ability to accept their bodies, view their mistakes
with patience and gentleness, and have the clarity and motivation
to identify values and future goals. Additionally, selfcompassion
training appears promising in the training and practice
of counseling psychologists and other practitioners in the
helping professions for preventing burnout and improving selfcare.
Since initially being addressed in the field of counseling psychology
by Neff over ten years ago, the construct of selfcompassion
has garnered a lot of attention and has been linked
across social, cognitive, and affective domains of functioning.
Maybe one reason self-compassion has captured the focus of
many researchers and practitioners alike in the field of counseling
psychology is its intuitive application to mental health and overall
wellness. The characteristics of self-compassion involve a
forgiving and accepting stance toward oneself, a balanced experience
of painful emotions, and a sense of connection to others
amidst difficult situations. When a woman holds a realistic and
adaptive view of self that is not dependent on social comparison
or situational success, she can be more resilient in the face of
hardships. When she appreciates and accepts her physical, psychological,
and emotional being as a whole, she is more inclined
to pursue activities and make choices that lead to wellness.
While more research is needed to fully examine the construct of
self-compassion and its implications for practice in counseling
psychology and health care in general, it appears to have great
potential to positively and meaningfully affect many aspects of
women’s lives.
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20 Prevention in Counseling Psychology: Theory, Research, Practice and Training, 2012, Vol. 5, No. 1