Investigating the effectiveness of compassion therapy on emotion regulation and experiential avoidance in individuals with major depression

Background and Aim: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with deficits in emotion regulation and experiential avoidance, which perpetuate the cycle of depression. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of compassion fatigue therapy ( CFT ) in improving emotion regulation and reducing experiential avoidance in patients with major depression.Research Method: In a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design and a control group, ۳۰ patients with MDD were selected from Kermanshah psychology clinics and randomly divided into two experimental groups ( ۱۵ people ) and control ( ۱۵ people), and the research was conducted in ۲۰۲۴. Experimental group The group received ۸ weekly sessions of compassion therapy based on the Gilbert model, while the control group did not receive any intervention. Data were collected using the Beck Depression Inventory-II, Emotion Regulation, and Experiential Avoidance Questionnaires and analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance ( MANCOVA ) in SPSS software.Findings: The results showed that compassion therapy significantly improved emotional regulation ( from ۲۱.۳ to ۳۲.۷ ) and reduced experiential avoidance ( from ۴۱.۵ to ۲۸.۲ ) in the experimental group ( p < ۰.۰۰۱ ), while the changes in the control group were insignificant. The effect size of the intervention for emotional regulation ( ۰.۸۳ ) and experiential avoidance ( ۰.۸۱ ) indicated a strong effect of the treatment.Conclusion: Compassion therapy, by enhancing self-compassion and reducing self-criticism, acts as an effective intervention in improving emotion regulation and reducing experiential avoidance in patients with major depression. The findings highlight the importance of incorporating approaches based on acceptance and self-compassion into depression treatment programs. It is recommended that future studies with larger samples and long-term follow-up examine the durability of the effects of this approach.

Investigating the effectiveness of compassion therapy on emotion regulation and experiential avoidance in individuals with major depression Keywords:

Compassion therapy , emotional regulation , experiential avoidance , major depression , acceptance - based therapy