Brief self-compassion interventions
As research has revealed, when individuals experience self-compassion—and thus speak to themselves kindly and compassionately in response to challenges and mistakes—the detrimental effects of narcissism might subside (e.g., Gu & Hyun, 2021; Zhang et al., 2024). Consequently, activities or conditions that foster self-compassion may diminish the impact of narcissism.
Researchers have designed and validated a range of procedures or protocols that foster self-compassion. To illustrate, Mantelou and Karakasidou (2017) substantiated the benefits of a brief intervention that promotes self-compassion. Participants attended three sessions, each lasting 90 minutes. During the first session, participants first watched a presentation about the three distinct facets of self-compassion—in which
- individuals recognise that pain and failure are inevitable, universal features of the human experience,
- because of this recognition, these individuals are more inclined to accept and understand all facets of themselves, including their deficiencies, faults, or afflictions,
- because of this acceptance, they demonstrate a balanced perspective of themselves and their emotions—neither disregarding nor inflating unpleasant thoughts or feelings, similar to mindfulness
They also learned that self-compassion is separate to self-esteem. Specifically, people experience self-esteem when they perceive themselves favourably, whereas people experience self-compassion when they accept, rather than evaluate, their qualities. They were informed that, regardless of their self-esteem, self-compassion tends to be positively associated with optimism, life satisfaction, wellbeing, empathy, relationships, as well as motivation to learn and to change.
After this presentation, participants were instructed to recall a moment in which experienced suffering and to consider how they treated themselves as a response. Next, they recorded how they would have comforted a cherished friend or relative who was experiencing a similar problem—strategies they could apply to themselves in the future. Finally, they were invited, over the next week, to maintain a self-compassion journal, in which they would record their shortcomings, failures, or challenges.
A week later, during the second session, participants discussed their experiences while maintaining a self-compassion diary. Next in small groups, these individuals participated in role-playing exercises, in which they impersonated a person who criticises someone else, a person who feels criticised, and a compassionate observer. During the final session, participants wrote a letter to themselves, from the perspective of a kind and compassionate friend, about how they could improve in the future.
Before and after the intervention, the participants completed a range of measures. The intervention not only enhanced self-compassion but also improved life satisfaction, elicited more positive emotions, and diminished the frequency or intensity of negative emotions.
Online self-compassion interventions
Researchers and practitioners have also developed more comprehensive, online interventions to foster self-compassion. One validated example is an online course, called the Gift of Self-Compassion, that users complete independently, at their own pace. The course entails psychoeducation, guided practices, instructional videos, and other resources that are primarily derived from Acceptance of Commitment Therapy and mindfulness. Users are encouraged to complete one lesson a day, usually demanding about 20 minutes, over a month. An online discussion thread is also available to users.
The psychoeducation includes materials about the three facets of self-compassion, the role of mindful awareness, misconceptions about self-compassion, the benefits of self-compassion, and practices to foster self-compassion. The guided practices and instructional videos include meditations, breathing exercises, experiential practices, and writing activities that have been shown to promote self-compassion. Here are some examples of the exercises:
- compassionate grounding, in which individuals repeat soothing thoughts about themselves many times, such as “I love myself for trying to thrive in this challenging world”,
- loving-kindness meditation, also called metta meditation, in which individuals project the feelings they experience towards a person they love to other people in their lives including themselves,
- RAIN meditation, in which individuals recognise their feelings or thoughts, allow or accept, rather than attempt to modify, these feelings or thoughts, investigate or inquire curiously about the source of these feelings or thoughts, and attempt to experience a sense of non-identification or detachment from these feelings or thoughts,
- affectionate breathing, in which individuals observe their breathing and recognise how their body is caressed by this breathing,
- managing perfectionism and challenging unhelpful thoughts,
- writing a letter to their childhood self and so forth.
To validate the benefits of this online program, Linford and Warren (2025) randomly allocated over 200 adults to one of two conditions. In the first condition, participants completed the Gift of Self-Compassion course. In the control condition, participants completed an expressive writing course, also lasting one month, in which individuals wrote about both distressing and uplifting events in the past (cf., Pennebaker, 1997). Similar variants of expressive writing have been demonstrated to improve wellbeing (e.g., Batista et al., 2022). Before and after these procedures, participants completed a range of measures, such as
- the Self-Compassion Scale,
- the K6 to measure distress (Kessler et al., 2003),
- measures of life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect, and subjective wellbeing.
The responses were subjected to a statistical technique, called seemingly unrelated regression models (Zellner, 1962), to assess multiple outcome measures simultaneously. As these analyses revealed
- both techniques improved the various facets of wellbeing,
- however, the Gift of Self-Compassion course enhanced self-compassion to a greater extent.
Other self-compassion interventions
Other researchers have designed and verified different interventions to foster self-compassion. In a protocol that Shapira and Mongrain (2010) developed, each day, over a week, participants were asked to reflect upon an event that unfolded during the day that evoked negative emotions. Next, they were asked to write a short letter to themselves, in first person, comprising one paragraph, about this event. Specifically, they were asked to remember occasions in which they were kind and understanding to other people—and then to apply these words to themselves. Alternatively, they could think about the words that a friend would say to offer support.
To offer this support, they should express understanding or empathy towards this distress. They could write “I feel sad that you feel distressed”. They could also indicate they feel the distress is understandable, with words like “It is natural to feel upset in this situation”.. Finally, they would offer soothing words to offer encouragement.
In the control condition, each day, over the week, participants were asked to write about an early memory of their life. They described the activities they were undertaking, the feelings they were experiencing, and the people with whom they were interacting, if they could remember. One week, one month, three months, and six months after this intervention, participants completed a series of measures that assessed their wellbeing. These measured included scales that gauge depression and happiness. The intervention significantly improved self-compassion and wellbeing.
More recently, Kishimoto et al. (2025) introduced a self-compassion intervention that also utilises generative AI. First, participants wrote about an unpleasant event in their life—an event in which they felt terrible. Next, the participants wrote a series of answers, over a duration of 10 minutes, in response to various prompts. Each prompt was designed to reinforce one of the three facets of self-compassion. First, to elicit a sense of common humanity, participants were invited to write about how other people might have experienced a similar event. Second, to elicit self-kindness, participants were prompted to express understanding, kindness, and care towards themselves—as they would towards a cherished friend or relative. Finally, to elicit a balanced or mindful perspective, participants wrote about their feelings towards this event from an objective, rather than emotional, perspective. The researchers had developed an AI tool, in Chat GPT, that offered empathic feedback towards each response—feedback that also epitomised self-compassion. Relative to participants who were assigned to a control condition, this intervention significantly enhanced self-compassion and diminished anxiety.
Indeed, researchers have successfully applied a variety of interventions to foster self-compassion. According to a meta-analysis, published by Ferrari et al (2019), these interventions generate an array of benefits. Specifically, these interventions greatly diminish rumination and moderately decrease stress, depression, self-criticism, and anxiety.
Experiences of support and attachment
Besides these formal interventions, some individuals naturally develop self-compassion in specific circumstances. According to social mentality theory, discussed in a book called the compassionate mind (Gilbert, 2009), the support and behaviour of parents, as well as other significant figures, can foster this self-compassion. To illustrate, in many circumstances, such as when children are upset, individuals seek care and compassion from other people, such as parents. In this state, if their needs are fulfilled, this inclination to seek care and compassion, called social mentality, is reinforced or strengthened. In contrast, if their needs are not fulfilled, but instead rejected or dismissed for example, this social mentality is inhibited.
If this social mentality is inhibited, individuals do not develop the skills or capabilities they need to attract this care and compassion. Consequently, they become less attuned to their motivation to even seek this care and compassion, recognising this need is unlikely to be fulfilled. If they do not recognise this need, they are unlikely to even offer care or compassion even to themselves, impeding the development of self-compassion.
Research has uncovered findings that corroborate this perspective. To illustrate, Pepping et al. (2015) explored whether the behaviour of parents shapes self-compassion. Specifically, in one study of over 300 undergraduate psychology students, participants recalled the behaviours of their parents and completed measures that assess their attachment style. In general, if parents were often critical of their children, seemed overprotective, or displayed limited warmth or tenderness, their children tended to report diminished levels of self-compassion. Presumably, these parents were not as likely to offer care or compassion.
Attachment anxiety, or the degree to which these individuals were concerned they may be rejected, mediated this association between parental behaviour and self-compassion. Presumably, when parents are critical, controlling, or cold, their children are often uncertain or wary of how these parents will react. Because of this concern, they might attempt to suppress their need to seek care and compassion, diminishing self-compassion as well.
Social mentality theory could also explain how other characteristics of a household may shape self-compassion. For example, Li et al. (2024) revealed that a supportive family and elevated household income were positively associated with self-compassion. Presumably, when families are unsupportive and resources are scarce, individuals may not receive care and compassion, impeding the need to seek this care and compassion as well as compromising self-compassion. Furthermore, in this study, self-efficacy and resilience were positively associated with self-compassion. Individuals who feel confident and resilient may feel they can attract the care they need, fostering self-compassion.
This care and compassion, however, may not always emanate from parents. For example, Liu et al. (2025) explored whether this self-compassion may evolve from the workplace. Specifically, these researchers examined whether ethical leadership—in which leaders are honest, fair, collaborative, fair, supportive, accountable, and respectful—may foster self-compassion in their staff. Consistent with social mentality theory, when leaders were ethical, staff reported greater self-compassion. The correlation exceeded 0.6. Hence, if leaders are ethical, staff feel they will receive the care and compassion they deserve, activating their social mentality and fostering self-compassion.
This theory could also explain why people tend to experience greater self-compassion after helping or assisting other individuals. In one study, conducted by Breines and Chen (2012b), participants first wrote about a recent event in which they experienced a feeling of failure, rejection, or humiliation–an event in which self-compassion is most important. Next, they were asked to recall a time in which they either helped a friend or experienced fun with a friend. Finally, they completed a measure that gauges the extent to which they feel self-compassion towards this failure or humiliation. Compared to participants who imagined a time in which they experienced fun with a friend, participants who imagined a time in which they helped a friend were more likely to report self-compassion. A subsequent study showed that advice to help someone also enhanced self-compassion. Self-esteem did not mediate these associations.
Presumably, these helpful behaviours or memories prime schemas that activate social mentality. That is, these experiences reinforce the importance of seeking care and compassion. Individuals thus become more attuned to this need to seek care and compassion, potentially fostering self-compassion.
Finally, social mentality theory could explain how coping style promotes self-compassion. For example, Stefan (2019) revealed that, in response to challenges, people who attempt to shun these problems—such as deny the concern or distract themselves—are not as likely to report self-compassion. Individuals who attempt to solve the problem or consider the insights they could learn from this problem report greater self-compassion. Presumably, individuals who attempt to shun these problems inhibit their need to seek care and compassion, impeding self-compassion.
Self-transcendence
Besides experiences of care and compassion, another mental state may also foster self-compassion: self-transcendence. Self-transcendent emotions are feelings that direct the attention of individuals away from themselves—away from their personal needs or goals—and include emotions like awe or gratitude. To illustrate, as Yuan et al, (2025) revealed, when individuals experience a moment of awe of wonder, they are more likely to report elevated levels of self-compassion
The authors posed several reasons why awe in particular, or self-transcendence in general, might foster self-compassion. First, when individuals experience awe, such as when they watch the night sky, they appreciate the vastness and wonder of the world. Hence, their attention shifts from their immediate and personal needs to a broader perspective of life. This connection to humanity corresponds to the first facet of self-compassion: a common humanity. Second, during this experience of awe, individuals feel small in comparison to the vast universe; hence they are more inclined to recognise and thus accept their limitations—the second facet of self-compassion.
Other states that foster this self-transcendence—this orientation to life outside personal needs—also promotes self-compassion. For example, as Voci et al. (2019) revealed, when individuals experience mindfulness, in which they observe their surroundings, thoughts, or feelings without judgment, they also report greater self-compassion.
Likewise, some variants of yoga foster self-compassion as well as mindfulness. Gard et al. (2012) verified the benefits of a specific program of yoga–Kripalu yoga–on self-compassion. The program spanned four months. Each day, the participants engaged in three to five hours of practice. The practice entailed postures, breathing exercises, and meditation. In addition, participants were engaged in three to five hours of tutorials, in which they learnt about how to integrate yoga with everyday life as well as other life skills.
One of the key features of this yoga program was the concept of witness consciousness. Witness consciousness, like mindfulness, refers to the capacity of individuals to observe their environment and their experience without judgment or reactivity. Five skills facilitate witness consciousness. Specifically, individuals were encouraged to orient their attention to the sensation of breath, to orient their attention to other momentary sensations, feelings, and thoughts, to learn how to accept, rather than judge, these experiences, and to learn how to relax. Compassion was also a central feature of this program. Relative to a matched control group, participants who engaged in this program exhibited greater self-compassion.
This role of self-transcendence could also explain the observation that self-affirmation, in which individuals contemplate their key values and consider how to pursue these values, also fosters self-compassion (Lindsay et al., 2014). Presumably, this orientation to key values enables individuals to transcend their immediate needs.
