Fears of compassion and happiness in relation to alexithymia, mindfulness, and self‐criticism
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Background. There is increasing research to suggest that fears of, and resistances to, affiliative and positive emotions are linked to self‐criticism and a range of psychopathologies. It is unclear how these fears and resistances are linked to each other and how these in turn are linked to psychological processes, such as abilities to be mindful and recognize and describe emotions. Objectives. This research explores the relationship between fears of compassion and happiness in general, with capacities for emotional processing (alexithymia), capacities for mindfulness, and empathic abilities. To advance this research, a new scale was developed to measure general fears of positive feelings – the Fear of Happiness Scale. Results. The results showed that fears of compassion for self, from others and in particular fear of happiness, were highly linked to different aspects of alexithymia, mindfulness, empathy, self‐criticism and depression, anxiety and stress. Especially noteworthy was the very high correlation between fear of happiness and depression ( r = .70). Conclusion. While the development of positive emotions, especially those linked to affiliation and connectedness are increasingly seen as important therapeutic targets, little research has focused on the blocks and fears to positive emotions. This study used newly developed fears of positive affect scales (e.g., compassion and happiness) to explore these aspects and found they were significantly linked to psychopathology variables self‐criticism and difficulties such as alexithymia.
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People with SE-AN may find it difficult to develop trust in clinicians, reject and defend against receiving compassion, and reaffirm their belief and investment in AN as a safe harbour.
“We may therefore find it difficult to develop trust in clinicians [181], reject and defend against receiving compassion [182–184], and reaffirm our belief and investment in AN as a safe harbour.”
From A lived experience response to the proposed diagnosis of terminal anorexia nervosa: learning from iatrogenic harm, ambivalence and enduring hope (2023) · cites this paper as [182]
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Miron, L. R., Seligowski, A. V., Boykin, D. M., & Orcutt, H. (2016) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-016-0493-0 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Scared of compassion: Fear of compassion in anxiety, mood, and non‐clinical groups
Merritt, O. A., & Purdon, C. L. (2020) · British Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjc.12250 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Hochheiser, J., Lundin, N. B., & Lysaker, P. H. (2019) · The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease · doi:10.1097/nmd.0000000000001065 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Self-Compassion in Clinical Samples: A Systematic Literature Review
Athanasakou, D., Karakasidou, E., Pezirkianidis, C., Lakioti, A., & Stalikas, A. (2020) · Psychology · doi:10.4236/psych.2020.112015 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Joshanloo, M. (2017) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2017.11.016 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
The development of fears of compassion scale Japanese version
Asano, K., Tsuchiya, M., Ishimura, I., Lin, S., Matsumoto, Y., Miyata, H., Kotera, Y., Shimizu, E., & Gilbert, P. (2017) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0185574 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Self-citationJordan, D. G., Collins, A. C., Dunaway, M. G., Kilgore, J., & Winer, E. S. (2020) · Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1002/jclp.23066 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Self-Referential Processing and Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Collins, A. C., & Winer, E. S. (2023) · Clinical Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/21677026231190390 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
“…is likely associated with less positive self-schemas independent of their in-the-moment processing of negative information compared with nondepressed individuals (e.g., “I deserve not to be happy”; Collins et al., 2023; Gilbert et al., 2012; Joshanloo, 2013; Raes et al., 2012; Winer & Salem, 2016).”
Trindade, I. A., Duarte, J., Ferreira, C., Coutinho, M., & Pinto‐Gouveia, J. (2018) · Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy · doi:10.1002/cpp.2175 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Self-citationSteindl, S. R., Matos, M., & Creed, A. K. (2018) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-018-9990-8 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Self-citationJiang, Y., Ren, Y., Liu, T., & You, J. (2020) · Psychology and Psychotherapy Theory Research and Practice · doi:10.1111/papt.12293 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
“Individuals who respond to self-compassion with strong fear and resistance tend to be in risk of psychopathology (e.g., Gilbert et al ., 2012; Joeng et al ., 2017; Kelly, Carter, Zuroff, & Borairi, 2013).”
BackgroundCompassion and self-compassion: Construct and measurement
Elices, M., Carmona, C., Pascual, J. C., Feliu-Soler, A., Martin-Blanco, A., & Soler, J. (2017) · Mindfulness & Compassion · doi:10.1016/j.mincom.2016.11.003 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Shamed by a parent or by others: the role of attachment in shame memories relation to depression
Matos, M., & Pinto‐Gouveia, J. (2014) · Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Self-citationDupasquier, J. R., Kelly, A. C., Moscovitch, D., & Vidovic, V. (2017) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-017-0792-0
“(2011) developed a measure to assess individual differences in the fear of receiving compassion and found that a greater fear of receiving compassion from others was associated with various forms of psychopathology as well as other psychosocial vulnerability factors such as selfcriticism, anxious attachment, stress, a…”
BackgroundResultFernando, A. T., & Consedine, N. S. (2014) · Postgraduate Medical Journal · doi:10.1136/postgradmedj-2013-132127 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
MacDonald, H. Z., & Price, J. L. (2017) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-017-0739-5 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
“Higher levels of mindfulness and empathy would thus be expected to be linked with low levels of alexithymia (Gilbert et al. 2012).”
BackgroundGodara, M., Silveira, S., Matthäus, H., Heim, C., Voelkle, M., Hecht, M., Binder, E. B., & Singer, T. (2021) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0256323 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Gilbert, P. (2014) · Journal of Depression & Anxiety · doi:10.4172/2167-1044.s2-004 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Self-citationCompassion-Focused Therapy as an Intervention for Adult Survivors of Sexual Abuse
McLean, L., Steindl, S., & Bambling, M. (2018) · Journal of Child Sexual Abuse · doi:10.1080/10538712.2017.1390718 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Stevenson, J., Mattiske, J. K., & Nixon, R. D. V. (2019) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2019.103492 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Well-Being Therapy: State of the Art and Clinical Exemplifications
Ruini, C., Albieri, E., & Vescovelli, F. (2014) · Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy · doi:10.1007/s10879-014-9290-z · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Steindl, S. R., Yiu, R. X. Q., Baumann, T., & Matos, M. (2019) · Australian Psychologist · doi:10.1111/ap.12433 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Self-citationExamining Mindfulness and Its Relation to Self-Differentiation and Alexithymia
Teixeira, R. J., & Pereira, M. G. (2013) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-013-0233-7 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
“The concept of mindfulness can be contrasted with alexithymia to the extent that mindfulness encourages open curiosity and attentiveness to inner experiences and becoming familiar with the arising thoughts or feelings, in the body (De la Fuente et al. 2010; Gilbert et al. 2012).”
BackgroundKothari, R., Barker, C., Pistrang, N., Rozental, A., Egan, S., Wade, T., Allcott-Watson, H., Andersson, G., & Shafran, R. (2019) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2019.03.007 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Xavier, A., Cunha, M., & Gouveia, J. P. (2015) · Revista de Psicopatología y Psicología Clínica · doi:10.5944/rppc.vol.1.num.1.2015.14407 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Ferreira, C., Dias, B., & Oliveira, S. (2018) · Eating Behaviors · doi:10.1016/j.eatbeh.2018.11.002 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Self-compassion in Relation to Alexithymia, Empathy, and Negative Mood in Young Adults
Lyvers, M., Randhawa, A. K., & Thorberg, F. A. (2020) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-020-01379-6 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Jansen, J. E., Lysaker, P. H., Harder, S. K., Haahr, U., Lyse, H., Pedersen, M. B., Trauelsen, A. M., & Simonsen, E. H. (2013) · Psychology and Psychotherapy Theory Research and Practice · doi:10.1111/papt.12014 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
“From studies on well-being in general, it has also been noted that pleasant and unpleasant affect seem to be independent and having different correlates – they are not simply opposites of one another (Diener et al., 1999; Gilbert et al., 2012; Seligman, Rashid, & Parks, 2006).”
BackgroundCompassion-focused therapy for trauma in people with intellectual disabilities: A conceptual review
Cowles, M., Randle‐Phillips, C., & Medley, A. R. (2018) · Journal of Intellectual Disabilities · doi:10.1177/1744629518773843 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Fear of happiness through the prism of the dual continua model of mental health
Blasco‐Belled, A., Rogoza, R., Alsinet, C., & Nadal, C. T. (2021) · Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1002/jclp.23165 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Comparing shame in clinical and nonclinical populations: Preliminary findings.
Dyer, K. F. W., Dorahy, M. J., Corry, M., Black, R., Matheson, L., Coles, H., Curran, D. B., Seager, L., & Middleton, W. (2016) · Psychological Trauma Theory Research Practice and Policy · doi:10.1037/tra0000158 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
“Recent research supports these findings with self-attack and self-criticism manifesting as prominent negative shame coping strategies in multiple populations and predicting mental health difficulties as varied as social anxiety, general anxiety, stress, depression, and poor intimate relationship functioning (Dorahy et…”
BackgroundResultThew, G. R., Gregory, J. D., Roberts, K., & Rimes, K. A. (2017) · Psychology and Psychotherapy Theory Research and Practice · doi:10.1111/papt.12137 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
“This is consistent with work suggesting that lower self-compassion, and greater fear of compassion plays a role in clinical symptomatology (Gilbert, McEwan, Catarino, & Baião, 2014; Gilbert et al., 2012; Kelly, Carter, Zuroff, & Borairi, 2013).”
ResultKirby, J. N., & Kirby, P. G. (2017) · Clinical Psychologist · doi:10.1111/cp.12129 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Collins, A. C., Lass, A. N. S., Jordan, D. G., & Winer, E. S. (2021) · Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1002/jclp.23158 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Arslan, G. (2021) · Psychology Health & Medicine · doi:10.1080/13548506.2021.1950783 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Kamboj, S. K., Walldén, Y. S. E., Falconer, C. J., Alotaibi, M. R., Blagbrough, I. S., Husbands, S. M., & Freeman, T. P. (2018) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-017-0849-0 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Shame and Depressive Symptoms: Self-compassion and Contingent Self-worth as Mediators?
Zhang, H., Carr, E. R., Garcia-Williams, A. G., Siegelman, A. E., Berke, D., Niles-Carnes, L. V., Patterson, B., Watson-Singleton, N. N., & Kaslow, N. J. (2018) · Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings · doi:10.1007/s10880-018-9548-9 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
“In addition, compassionate mind training is effective with people with high shame and who engage in self-criticism (Gilbert et al., 2012; Lucre & Corten, 2013).”
Nappa, M. R., Bartolo, M. G., Pistella, J., Petrocchi, N., Costabile, A., & Baiocco, R. (2021) · Sexuality Research and Social Policy · doi:10.1007/s13178-021-00590-x · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Mental contamination: Relationship with psychopathology and transdiagnostic processes
Coughtrey, A. E., Shafran, R., Bennett, S. D., Kothari, R., & Wade, T. D. (2017) · Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jocrd.2017.08.009 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Emotion Ideology Mediates Effects of Risk Factors on Alexithymia Development
Edwards, E. R., Micek, A., Mottarella, K. E., & Wupperman, P. (2016) · Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1007/s10942-016-0254-y · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Body Uneasiness and Dissatisfaction Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Heterosexual Persons
Muzi, L., Nardelli, N., Naticchioni, G., Mazzeschi, C., Baiocco, R., & Lingiardi, V. (2023) · Sexuality Research and Social Policy · doi:10.1007/s13178-023-00805-3 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
“As Gilbert et al. (2012) suggested, self-criticism and self-hate are highly associated with shame (Lingiardi et al., 2017), and their dysfunctional effects in LGB persons may derive from related self-directed negative emotions, including anger, disgust, and contempt (Petrocchi et al., 2020), which…”
BackgroundThe Poor Subjective Well-Being Associated with Alexithymia is Mediated by Romantic Relationships
Holder, M. D., Love, A. B., & Timoney, L. R. (2014) · Journal of Happiness Studies · doi:10.1007/s10902-014-9500-0 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Lischetzke, T., & Eid, M. (2017) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-58763-9_20 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Alexithymia, Fear of Intimacy, and Relationship Satisfaction
Lyvers, M., Pickett, L. L., Needham, K., & Thorberg, F. A. (2021) · Journal of Family Issues · doi:10.1177/0192513x211010206 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Rajiani, I., & Kot, S. (2018) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su10061772 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Does Hope Mediate and Moderate the Relationship between Happiness Aversion and Depressive Symptoms?
Bloore, R. A., Jose, P. E., & Joshanloo, M. (2020) · Open Journal of Depression · doi:10.4236/ojd.2020.91001 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
The Integrative Positive Psychological Intervention for Depression (IPPI-D)
Chaves, C., López‐Gómez, I., Hervás, G., & Vázquez, C. (2019) · Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy · doi:10.1007/s10879-018-9412-0 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
You don’t know how it feels: Accuracy in emotion perception predicts responsiveness of support.
Gregory, A. J. P., Anderson, J. F., & Gable, S. L. (2020) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/emo0000608 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Halamová, J., Kanovský, M., Gilbert, P., Troop, N. A., Zuroff, D. C., Petrocchi, N., Hermanto, N., Krieger, T., Kirby, J. N., Asano, K., et al. (2019) · Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1007/s10942-019-00319-1 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Self-citationBryant, J. S., Gallagher, M. R., Collins, A. C., & Winer, E. S. (2022) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2022.101830 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Unconditional Self-Acceptance and Self-Compassion
Dryden, W. (2013) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-6806-6_7 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Kang, Y., Gray, J. R., & Dovidio, J. F. (2015) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-014-0355-6 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
“Furthermore, having warm and compassionate attitudes toward others can increase social support received and feelings of well-being (Fredrickson et al. 2008), while fear of having compassionate attitudes toward others is associated with increased depression, anxiety, and stress (Gilbert et al. 2012).”
Teixeira, R. J., Ferreira, G., & Pereira, M. G. (2017) · Mindfulness & Compassion · doi:10.1016/j.mincom.2017.03.001 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Adult attachment and mental health: The role of emotion regulation
Mortazavizadeh, Z., & Forstmeier, S. (2018) · Archives of Psychology · doi:10.31296/aop.v2i9.83 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Psychometric properties of Turkish form of the Fear of Happiness Scale
Yıldırım, M., & Aziz, I. A. (2017) · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Yazd, S. A. R., Gashtil, S., Moradpoor, M., Pishdar, S., Nabian, P., Kazemi, Z., & Naeim, M. (2023) · Parkinsonism & Related Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.parkreldis.2023.105456 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Geller, J., Iyar, M., Kelly, A. C., & Srikameswaran, S. (2019) · Eating Behaviors · doi:10.1016/j.eatbeh.2019.101334 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Umegaki, Y., Nakagawa, A., Watkins, E. R., & Mullan, E. (2021) · Cognitive and Behavioral Practice · doi:10.1016/j.cbpra.2021.01.003 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Bloore, R. A., Jose, P. E., & Roseman, I. J. (2020) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2020.110174 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Cavalcanti, L. G., Steindl, S. R., Matos, M., & Boschen, M. J. (2021) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-021-01510-3 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
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McLean, L., Steindl, S., & Bambling, M. (2022) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-022-01837-3 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Gilbert, J., Stubbs, R. J., Gale, C., Gilbert, P., Dunk, L., & Thomson, L. (2014) · Journal of Compassionate Health Care · doi:10.1186/s40639-014-0009-5 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Self-citationSchuling, R., Huijbers, M. J., Jansen, H., Metzemaekers, R., van den Brink, E., Koster, F., van Ravesteijn, H., & Speckens, A. E. M. (2017) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-017-0783-1 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Compassion Mediates Poor Sleep Quality and Mental Health Outcomes
Kim, J. J., Oldham, M., Fernando, A. T., & Kirby, J. N. (2021) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-021-01595-8 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
- Authors
- Gilbert, P., McEwan, K., Gibbons, L., Chotai, S., Duarte, J., & Matos, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Coimbra (PT)
- Corresponding author
- Gilbert, P.
- Venue
- Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2011-11-08
- Volume
- 85
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 374-390
- ISSN
- 1476-0835 (ISSN-L)
- 2044-8341
- OpenAlex
- W1718330303
- Cited by
- 285
- References
- 70
- Citations by year
- 2026: 23 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 31 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 25 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 5.94
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Locations
- Psychology and Psychotherapy Theory Research and Practice (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- University of Derby Online Research Archive. (University of Derby) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- ORCA Online Research @Cardiff (Cardiff University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute for Health and Care Research
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Keywords
- fear of happiness, fear of compassion, positive emotions, alexithymia, mindfulness, self-criticism, empathy, depression, anxiety, stress, emotional processing, psychopathology
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Affective Symptoms, Depression, Empathy, Factor Analysis, Statistical, Fear, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Psychometrics, Self-Assessment
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