A large meta-analysis on CFT

A team of international researchers I’m a part of, just concluded and submitted a large meta-analysis on the effectiveness of Compassion Focused Therapy – CFT. CFT is an an evolutionarily oriented psychotherapy developed by Paul Gilbert (one of the co-author of the study). The main focus of the interventions is the soothing system, a mammalian affect regulation system that is usually triggered by social safeness. In humans, this system may be impaired by either external (eg interpersonal criticism) or internal (eg self-criticism) threats.

In this meta-analysis we screened a large number of studies and explored the effectiveness of CFT in improving negative and positive mental health outcomes. Our team, led by Nicola Petrocchi and Cristina Ottaviani, reported a moderate to large effect size in clinical and non-clinical samples.

We also found a relevant heterogeneity, urging scholars in CFT to outline larger-scale higher quality randomized controlled trial. That said, the final analysis of our meta-analysis included 47 RCTs and 7875 partecipants, suggesting how CFT may be considered an effective intervention for a variety of symptoms and disorders.

Fingers crossed while waiting reviwers’ feedbacks!

Compassion and COVID-19 Pandemic

pandemic covid-19

The last paper of series on the role of compassion during the COVID-19 pandemic has been realeased. The new rsearch suggests that, in a time of elevated distress and shared human suffering such as the pandemic, people from multiple countries and nationalities seem to become more compassionate to self and others and less afraid of, and resistant to, compassion.

During pandemic I joined an international team led by Marcela Matos aimed to explore the role of compassion in adjusting to pandemic. 21 countries were involved and 4 waves of data were collected. First, we showed how all fears of compassion moderated (heightened) the impact of perceived threat of COVID-19 on psychological distress. Second, we confirmed how social connection is key to how people adapt and cope with the worldwide COVID-19 crisis and may facilitate post-traumatic growth in the context of the threat experienced during the pandemic. Finally, our findings highlight the universal protective role of compassion, in particular self-compassion and compas- sion from others, in promoting resilience by buffering against the harmful effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and social safeness.

The Italian team was led by Nicola Petrocchi and I, and supported by Tages Onlus.

Matos, M., McEwan, K., Kanovský, M., Halamová, J., Steindl, S. R., Ferreira, N., Linharelhos, M., Rijo D, Asano K, Vilas SP, Márquez MG, Gregório S, Brito-Pons G, Lucena-Santos P, da Silva Oliveira M, de Souza EL, Llobenes L, Gumiy N, Costa MI, Habib N, Hakem R, Khrad H, Alzahrani A, Cheli S, Petrocchi N, Tholouli E, Issari P, Simos G, Lunding-Gregersen V, Elklit A, Kolts R, Kelly AC, Bortolon C, Delamillieure P, Paucsik M, Wahl JE, Zieba M, Zatorski M, Komendziński T, Zhang S, Basran J, Kagialis A, Kirby J, Gilbert P. (2023). Improvements in Compassion and Fears of Compassion throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multinational Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health20(3), 1845. MDPI AG. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20031845