Self-compassion is associated with less stress and depression and greater attention and brain response to affective stimuli in women managers.

BACKGROUND: Women have been assuming more responsibilities and higher positions in major companies, which exposes them to high levels of stress. Higher perceived work stress is related to higher emotional reactivity. Difficulties with emotional regulation can lead to anxiety and mood disorders, which are more prevalent in women than men. Indeed, women leaders are more likely to experience emotional fatigue than men due to excessive empathy. Our aim was to evaluate the associations between self-compassion (SC) scores to depression symptoms, perceived stress and mindfulness, as well as with brain responses to high-arousal unpleasant and pleasant pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS), as measured through functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) in women managers. METHODS: Forty-six participants were selected for the study. All participants filled the Self Compassion Scale (SCS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Mindful Awareness Attention Scale (MAAS) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). After that they were scanned during an fMRI affective response paradigm. Correlation analysis were performed among these variables. RESULTS: Our data suggest that women with higher SC scores respond to affective stimuli with higher activation of the precuneus (a brain region related to self-referential processing), lower levels of stress and depression and show greater attention in everyday activities. CONCLUSION: SC may be an important characteristic for women leaders because of its association with higher sensitivity to emotional stimuli and mindfulness. These skills may allow them to be more aware of others while being less susceptible for stress and depression symptoms.

The Integration of Meditation and Positive Psychology Practices to Relieve Stress in Women Workers (Flourish): Effects in Two Pilot Studies.

Meditation and positive psychology have been reported as promising approaches to deal with stress. This exploratory pilot study aims to evaluate the efficacy of meditation and positive psychology-based intervention on stress. Two experiments are reported; in the first one, 29 healthcare professionals were included (intervention = 14; control = 15), and the second one included 57 women managers (intervention = 27; control = 30). All participants were evaluated before and after eight weeks for levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and psychiatric symptoms. In Experiment 1, intervention group participants showed a reduction in stress levels and anxiety symptoms, and in Experiment 2, participants in the intervention group showed a decrease in stress, psychiatric symptoms, and sleep quality, when compared to the control group. A multi-component intervention based on positive psychology and meditation practices was effective at reducing stress as well as improving related stress parameters such as anxiety, psychiatric symptoms, and sleep quality.