The benefits of self-compassion and optimism exercises for individuals vulnerable to depression
Shapira and Mongrain compared two brief online exercises, one designed to induce self-compassion and one to induce optimism, against a control task of writing about an early memory, with nearly two hundred participants followed for six months. Both active exercises produced increases in happiness still detectable at six months and reductions in depressive symptoms lasting up to three months, from an intervention that took a week. The more interesting part is who benefited from which. People high in self-criticism appeared to gain more from the optimism exercise, though the authors report that this effect did not survive a more rigorous statistical test, which they state plainly. People whose dependence on others took a mature form, described as connectedness, gained more from the self-compassion exercise, with mood improvements lasting six months. The conclusion is that personality orientation may determine which positive psychology intervention suits a given person.
Shapira and Mongrain compared two brief online exercises, one designed to induce self-compassion and one to induce optimism, against a control task of writing about an early memory, with nearly two hundred participants followed for six months. Both active exercises produced increases in happiness still detectable at six months and reductions in depressive symptoms lasting up to three months, from an intervention that took a week. The more interesting part is who benefited from which. People high in self-criticism appeared to gain more from the optimism exercise, though the authors report that this effect did not survive a more rigorous statistical test, which they state plainly. People whose dependence on others took a mature form, described as connectedness, gained more from the self-compassion exercise, with mood improvements lasting six months. The conclusion is that personality orientation may determine which positive psychology intervention suits a given person.
Written from the abstract, OpenAlex.
What our sources record
Reproduced as it was written when this source was checked, figures and all.
Three arms: self-compassionate letter writing n = 63, optimism n = 55, control writing about an early memory n = 70; daily for one week; happiness gains sustained at six months, depressive symptom reductions to three months; the self-compassion arm did not outperform the optimism arm.
Where we use it
- Why You Are Kinder to Your Friends Than to Yourself, Why We Care
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The link below was matched against the publisher's record on title, first author and year, and all three agree.
The source
https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2010.516763
DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2010.516763