Q&A

Integrating Compassion in Therapy

Integrating Compassion in Therapy

Acclaimed psychologist Paul Gilbert, the developer of Compassion Focused Therapy, answers questions about the importance of compassion towards oneself and others for emotional healing.

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What is your view on the idea that rumination has an evolutionary function in motivating an individual to make necessary changes in their life?
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How specifically do you work with clients who believe that self-criticism works for them?
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What is the evidence on using CFT for complex PTSD?
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Can you speak about doing assertiveness training within a CFT framework?
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Can CFT be combined with EMDR?
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How does CFT view alexithymia?
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What are some common un-compassionate behaviors that you notice people exhibiting in practice?
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Is there much literature to support the use of Compassion Focused Therapy in cases of paranoid schizophrenia and psychosis?
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What do you love about CFT?
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Can CFT be used alongside DBT? I'm particularly interested in the idea of integrating chain analysis alongside CFT.
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Is there empirical support for using CFT with adolescents? What particular exercises would you recommend to use with teens?
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What should I do with clients who struggle to use imagery?
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What's the evidence on using CFT for anger?
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Do therapists use CFT as a stand-alone therapy or mostly combine it with other approaches? Which ones?
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Has anyone utilised compassion focused therapy with sex offenders?
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Any advice for defining compassion with clients? Especially if they are particularly self-critical and struggle with any sense of kindness or warmth towards themselves?
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Dear Paul, I work in health psychology and work with people who experience a lot of shame, disgust and guilt and grief about their health condition e.g., cancer, type 2 diabetes, STIs. How can CFT help them?
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Have you used the compassion approach with PTSD and developmental trauma?
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Is Compassion Focused Therapy considered an evidence based intervention?
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How does Polyvagal Theory fit with CFT? Did this theory inform your work?
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Hi Paul, can you talk about compassion fatigue, especially in the context of health professionals?
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How does CFT work with grief, especially complex grief?
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What is the difference between compassion and empathy?
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Does the attachment style of therapists using CFT matter? What about the attachment style of clients?
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Why has chairwork been neglected so much?
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Is there a CFT protocol for working with guilt?
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What adaptations need to be made in CFT (if any) for autism/neurodiversity?
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Hi Paul, I feel as if my training lacked a model/intervention for emotion regulation and distress tolerance. How does compassion focused therapy conceptualise and target these?
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How can compassion focused therapy be integrated with CBT?
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What does Compassion Focused Therapy have in common with ACT?
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Would you categorize Compassion Focused Therapy as being an effective short term intervention?
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What is compassion?
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What's the best approach for working with young (5/6yo) children using Compassion Focused Therapy?
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I'd love to hear about your thoughts on utilizing Compassion Focused Therapy in a palliative care context.
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What's your view of self care? How does self care relate to compassion?
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What's a common misconception you encounter around the idea of compassion?
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