Self-compassion improves emotion regulation and mental health outcomes: A pilot study of an online self-compassion program for autistic adults.
Autism
; 28(10): 2572-2585, 2024 Oct.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38584374
ABSTRACT
LAY ABSTRACT Self-compassion is when we are aware of our feelings and thoughts, are friendly toward ourselves, and realize everyone feels pain and makes mistakes. Self-compassion is associated with having better mental health and well-being in autistic and non-autistic people. But we do not know if autistic people's self-compassion can be improved through psychoeducation and self-compassion practices. We co-produced an online self-guided self-compassion program based on evidence-based self-compassion practices for autistic adults called the Self-compassion Program for Autistic Adults. This program included live-experiences videos of autistic adults reflecting on their self-compassion and self-critical experiences. This study piloted the program with 39 autistic adults. We wanted to see if these autistic adults' self-compassion, emotion regulation, mental health, and psychological well-being improved after completing this program. We found that the autistic participants' self-compassion, emotion regulation, mental health, and psychological well-being improved significantly after completing the program over 5 weeks. We also found that just over half of the participants reported experiencing negative reactions associated with self-compassion practices. We suggested some clinical implications, including a recommendation for emotion regulation interventions to incorporate self-compassion to help promote access to the affiliative system. In addition, autistic adults who are psychologically vulnerable may need to work with mental health professionals while developing self-compassion to help manage the possible negative reactions associated with some self-compassion practices.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Autistic Disorder
/
Empathy
/
Emotional Regulation
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Autism
Journal subject:
PSICOLOGIA
/
PSIQUIATRIA
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Australia
Country of publication:
United kingdom