Compassion Focused Therapy

What is CFT?

Many of us struggle to feel or show compassion to ourselves, despite being able to show compassion to others. We often operate a double standard, judging ourselves much more harshly than others in a similar position. Compassion focused therapy teaches people how to develop feelings of compassion, which in turn can help regulate mood and develop feelings of safety, self acceptance, and comfort.

The importance of compassion

Humans have three emotional regulation systems:

1) Threat and self-protection system - which is driven by anger, disgust and fear in order to protect us

2) Drive and excitement system - which motivates us to seek out resources or achievements

3) Soothing and social safety system - where we feel safe and content and no longer feel driven to seek outside resources

A lack of balance between these systems can result in psychological distress (such as anxiety or depression). It is likely that those who experience high levels of shame and self-criticism may have experienced too little stimulation of their soothing system and too much stimulation of their threat system in their early years. This means that they may struggle to be kind to themselves or to feel kindness from others. They may be very sensitive to criticism or rejection, whether real or perceived. The goal of CFT is to rebalance these systems - typically by strengthening the soothing system through compassion - resulting in a reduction in distress.

What does CFT involve?

CFT combines CBT techniques with neuroscience, evolutionary and social psychology and concepts from Buddhism, and is particularly helpful where people experience a lot of shame and self-criticism. Compassionate mind training is used to teach the skills and attributes of compassion, to help the individual feel safe and secure. It helps people see where their critical thoughts have come from, whether they are justified, and how to reduce this self-criticism. In addition to working with thoughts in the here and now, it works with the part of the brain where emotional memories are stored, linking back to the origins of these feelings of self-criticism. CFT uses techniques such as mindfulness, meditation, and imagery, as well as more typical CBT techniques.

CFT or CBT?

Both CFT and CBT involve recognising negative thoughts, and correcting misperceptions. However, sometimes within CBT people might find that they are logically able to challenge a negative thought, but they struggle to believe it. Being able to counter unreasonable thoughts isn’t enough; without self-compassion, the logic does not translate into feeling better. This is where CFT can be helpful.

CFT is most likely to be used in an integrative way, rather than as a stand-alone therapy. Your therapist may suggest drawing on CFT if they feel you are struggling with a very self-critical voice, and it works well alongside CBT or other approaches.