Mechanisms of Mindful Change: A Mediating Relationship Between Psychological Flexibility, Self-compassion, and Well-being after Compassionate Mind Training, 2022

Compassion-based practises have been extensively shown to be beneficial in their remediation and prevention of stress-related psychopathologies such as depression and anxiety. There are several fears, block and resistances to compassion which prevent individuals from accessing the physiological and psychological benefits of compassion. A key part of compassion-focused therapy (CFT) and compassionate mind training (CMT), is teaching individuals mindfulness techniques to detach individuals from previous made associations, feelings and emotions that may cause them to block compassionate engagement and action. Mindfulness has been defined as being in contact with the present moment and being able to have meta-awareness of one's thoughts, feelings and emotions without becoming attached to them. There are different dimensions of psychological flexibility which dictate the content, context, strength and importance of these associations and relationships. These can be easier (psychological flexibility) or more difficult (psychological inflexibility) for individuals to change, evolve or expand upon.
The objective of this study was to determine whether there is a relationship between compassion, psychological flexibility and improved psychological well-being after Compassionate Mind Training (CMT). The motivation for this piece of research is to identify whether psychological flexibility (or certain dimensions of psychological flexibility) has an effect on how willing individuals are to engage and act upon the three flows of compassion: compassion for others, compassion from others and self-compassion.
This study had two hypotheses. Hypothesis one (H1) stated that participants’ levels of negative affect would significantly decrease after CMT and their levels of well-being would significantly increase alongside levels of compassionate engagement and action across the flows of compassion, repeating previous studies’ findings.
Hypothesis two (H2) stated that participants’ levels of well-being and compassionate engagement and action would have significant positive correlations with each other and measures of psychological flexibility, suggesting possible mediating factors between them. After data analysis, the results of this study supported the first hypothesis, revealing significant increases in self-compassionate engagement and action and well-being, as well as unexpected increases in psychological flexibility. In terms of the second hypothesis, a serial mediation analysis supported previous theoretical accounts and studies which have suggested that the soothing benefits of compassion are mediated via mindfulness, a process which, in this study appeared to be represented by the psychological flexibility dimensions of present-moment-awareness, defusion and self-as-context in that mediating order.

基于慈悲的实践已被广泛证实，在矫正和预防抑郁、焦虑等压力相关精神疾病方面具有显著益处。人们对慈悲存在多种恐惧、阻碍与抗拒，这些因素会使其无法获得慈悲带来的生理与心理益处。慈悲聚焦疗法（compassion-focused therapy, CFT）和慈悲心智训练（compassionate mind training, CMT）的核心环节之一，是教授个体正念技巧，帮助其摆脱先前形成的联想、感受与情绪——这些内容可能导致他们阻碍慈悲参与和行动。正念被定义为与当下时刻连接，能够对自身想法、感受和情绪保持元觉知，且不产生执着。心理灵活性（psychological flexibility）包含多个维度，这些维度决定了上述联想与关系的内容、情境、强度及重要性。个体对这些内容的改变、发展或拓展可能较为容易（心理灵活性），也可能较为困难（心理僵化，psychological inflexibility）。

本研究的目的是探究接受慈悲心智训练（CMT）后，慈悲、心理灵活性与心理幸福感提升之间是否存在关联。本研究的动机在于明确心理灵活性（或其特定维度）是否会影响个体参与并践行三种慈悲流向（对他人的慈悲、来自他人的慈悲及自我慈悲）的意愿。

本研究提出两个假设。假设一（H1）指出，参与者接受CMT后，其负性情绪水平会显著降低，幸福感水平会显著提升，同时在各慈悲流向中的慈悲参与及行动水平也会提升，这与先前研究结果一致。

假设二（H2）指出，参与者的幸福感水平与慈悲参与及行动水平之间，以及二者与心理灵活性测量值之间，均存在显著正相关，提示它们之间可能存在中介因素。数据分析结果支持了第一个假设：自我慈悲参与及行动水平与幸福感水平显著提升，同时心理灵活性也出现了意外的提升。针对第二个假设，序列中介分析支持了先前的理论阐述与研究结论——即慈悲的安抚益处通过正念中介实现；在本研究中，这一过程由心理灵活性的三个维度按以下中介顺序体现：当下觉知（present-moment-awareness）、解离（defusion）及自我作为背景（self-as-context）。