The DOI matches its Crossref record; 89 of the 90 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The ‘Flow’ of compassion: A meta-analysis of the fears of compassion scales and psychological functioning
Abstract
This meta-analysis examined the associations between the fears of compassion and mental health. We extracted 19 studies reporting 154 effect sizes (Pearson's r) from 22 independent samples published during the last seven years, with data from 4723 participants. All studies used the Fears of Compassion Scales (FCS), which includes three subscales; fears of compassion for self, for others, and receiving from others. Specific mental health outcomes included: depression; anxiety; distress; and well-being, as well as the psychological vulnerability factors of self-criticism and shame. The overall association between the three FCS subscales and mental health difficulties was .49, .30 and .48 for fears of self-compassion, fears of compassion for others, and fears of compassion from others, respectively. Across mental health domains and vulnerability factors, pooled effect sizes ranged between r = .13 and .55 (in absolute value), with the strongest associations found between the mental health variables of shame, self-criticism, and depression, and the FCS subscales of fears of self-compassion and fears of receiving compassion. Moderator analyses were also conducted, including, age, gender, publication status, and sample (clinical vs. non-clinical). Overall, clinical populations demonstrated significantly stronger associations between mental health difficulties and fears of self-compassion, relative to non-clinical populations.
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“Results can also be understood in the context of research on fears of compassion, in which fear of receiving compassion has a stronger association with mental health outcomes than fears of being compassionate to others [37].”
From Validation of the compassionate engagement and action scales, compassion scale, and Sussex-Oxford compassion scales in a French-Canadian sample (2024) · cites this paper as [37]
In the citing paper
“A meta-analysis found that fear of compassion was more strongly related to reduced mental health in clinical populations compared to non-clinical populations (Kirby et al., 2019), and thus targeting these processes in therapy may be relevant.”
From Group-based compassion-focused therapy for prolonged grief symptoms in adults – Results from a randomized controlled trial (2022) · cites this paper as Kirby et al., 2019
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Compassion: From Its Evolution to a Psychotherapy
Gilbert, P. (2020) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.586161 · Cited by 365
“There are now many studies on how fears of compassion (Pauley and MacPherson, 2010; Gilbert et al., 2011) are linked to mental health problems (for a major meta-analysis of this scale see Kirby et al., 2019).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialCraig, C., Hiskey, S., & Spector, A. (2020) · Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics · doi:10.1080/14737175.2020.1746184 · Cited by 201
“Recent meta-analytic work [2] exploring fears of compassion relating to these three flows indicates that fears of self compassion and fears of compassion from another to oneself exhibit the strongest correlations with shame, selfcriticism and depression.”
BackgroundWakelin, K. E., Perman, G., & Simonds, L. M. (2022) · Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy · doi:10.1002/cpp.2586 · Cited by 170
“Besides Kirby et al.'s (2019) meta-analysis examining fears of compassion, the majority of previous reviews have taken a diagnostic stance by analysing anxiety and depression outcomes (Ferrari et al., 2019; Kirby et al., 2017; Wilson et al., 2019).”
BackgroundNeurophysiological and behavioural markers of compassion
Kim, J. J., Parker, S. L., Doty, J. R., Cunnington, R., Gilbert, P., & Kirby, J. N. (2020) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-020-63846-3 · Cited by 153
Self-citationKim, J. J., Cunnington, R., & Kirby, J. N. (2019) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.10.023 · Cited by 125
Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Kirby, J. N., Day, J., & Sagar, V.
- Affiliations
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- University of Newcastle Australia (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Kirby, James N.
- Venue
- Clinical Psychology Review
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2019-06
- Volume
- 70
- Pages
- 26-39
- ISSN
- 0272-7358 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2922505176
- Cited by
- 232
- References
- 90
- Citations by year
- 2026: 32 · 2025: 32 · 2024: 31 · 2023: 43 · 2022: 32 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 5
- FWCI
- 3.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Clinical Psychology Review (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- NOVA (University of Newcastle Australia) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Keywords
- self-compassion, compassion for others, depression, anxiety, psychological distress, well-being, shame, self-criticism, psychological vulnerability
- MeSH terms
- Psychological Distress, Anxiety, Depression, Empathy, Fear, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Self Concept, Shame, Social Behavior
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