On the Role of Self-compassion and Self-kindness in Weight Regulation and Health Behavior Change

“In considering theories of self-compassion and self-kindness—and even further theories of acceptance and mindfulness —there is a need to emphasize holistic self-care, as it appears that these are key components in alleviating the suffering for both the body and mind (Kabat-Zinn, 2003).”

“In further support, interpersonal conflict and/or goal conflict theories (Strack and Deutsch, 2004; Tangney et al., 2004; Carver, 2005; Stroebe et al., 2008) may well relate to a “novel” selfcompassionate model for health.”

“Self-compassion has been defined as a mindful awareness of oneself, which involves treating oneself kindly and understanding oneself during difficult and challenging times by realizing that such experiences are common amongst all humans (Neff, 2003a).”

“Self-compassion has been defined as a mindful awareness of oneself, which involves treating oneself kindly and understanding oneself during difficult and challenging times by realizing that such experiences are common amongst all humans (Neff, 2003a).”

“In further support, interpersonal conflict and/or goal conflict theories (Strack and Deutsch, 2004; Tangney et al., 2004; Carver, 2005; Stroebe et al., 2008) may well relate to a “novel” selfcompassionate model for health.”

“While the psychological benefits are well documented (e.g., Neff, 2011), the health behaviors and outcomes may require more consideration, and this opinion manuscript aims to shed light on potential problems in eating and weight issues.”

“In further support, interpersonal conflict and/or goal conflict theories (Strack and Deutsch, 2004; Tangney et al., 2004; Carver, 2005; Stroebe et al., 2008) may well relate to a “novel” selfcompassionate model for health.”

“…to obesity, cardiovascular disease), while the latter group of behaviors depicts an alignment of self-kindness and self-care, which is perhaps a truer model of self-compassion, and has been briefly mentioned in past literature (Neff, 2009, 2011), and relates to the body and mind simultaneously.”

“…effectiveness of mindfulness, while other research suggested that self-compassion relates to mindful eating (Webb et al., 2013), intuitive eating (Schoenefeld and Webb, 2013), overcoming disinhibition when dieting (Adams and Leary, 2007), and increasing health behavior intentions (Sirois, 2015).”

“In further support, interpersonal conflict and/or goal conflict theories (Strack and Deutsch, 2004; Tangney et al., 2004; Carver, 2005; Stroebe et al., 2008) may well relate to a “novel” selfcompassionate model for health.”

“Participants who were highly induced to experience negative affect consumed more snack foods at the subsequent taste test (De Witt Huberts et al., 2012a).”

“Participants who were highly induced to experience negative affect consumed more snack foods at the subsequent taste test (De Witt Huberts et al., 2012a).”

“…effectiveness of mindfulness, while other research suggested that self-compassion relates to mindful eating (Webb et al., 2013), intuitive eating (Schoenefeld and Webb, 2013), overcoming disinhibition when dieting (Adams and Leary, 2007), and increasing health behavior intentions (Sirois, 2015).”

“In an attempt to induce self-compassion in a mindfulness context that was more behavior-specific than mindfulness meditation, Mantzios and Wilson (2014) developed a “mindful concrete construal” diary.”

“Another study found that participants lost more weight when they participated in a mindful self-compassionate programme, compared to a control group (Mantzios and Wilson, 2015).”

“For example, a recent study found that the trait of self-compassion negatively predicted weight gain in civilians who entered a highly stressful military environment (Mantzios et al., 2015).”

“In further support, interpersonal conflict and/or goal conflict theories (Strack and Deutsch, 2004; Tangney et al., 2004; Carver, 2005; Stroebe et al., 2008) may well relate to a “novel” selfcompassionate model for health.”

“Although this meta-analysis found large effects for improvements in eating behaviors, Mantzios and Egan (2017) argue self-compassion may be confabulated with self-kindness and lead to poor decision-making in the context of some health behaviors such as eating.”

“…reviews have synthesised observed associations between self-compassion and health behaviour (Biber & Ellis, 2017; Braun, Park, & Gorin, 2016; Friis et al., 2015; Mantzios & Egan, 2017; Rahimi-Ardabili et al., 2018; Sirois & Hirsch, 2019; Sirois et al., 2015), none of them were comprehensive.”

“Rather, self-kindness within a holistic self-compassion approach relates to simultaneously providing physiological and psychological self-care (Mantzios and Egan 2017).”

“The nonsignificant relationship of self-compassion may be attributable to elements discussed by Mantzios and Egan [51], whereby the self-compassion scale is not specific to health behaviours or eating.”

“For example, while for some, self-kindness may involve having a long bath or eating a healthy meal, for others it may consist of over-indulgence of food or binge drinking (Mantzios and Egan, 2017).”

“Therefore, it may well be that what we are looking for is a smarter scheme of benevolence and reciprocity (see Mantzios and Egan, 2018) that clearly exists within clinical teams and is extended to patients.”

“Self-kindness, which is a component within the theorisation and measurement of self-compassion was suggested to be a vital element within health behaviors, especially when an equilibrium of self-care is reached between body and mind (Mantzios and Egan, 2017).”

“In addition, from a holistic point of view, a self-compassionate approach may simultaneously promote physiological and psychological self-care, that is, encouraging individuals to care equally about the body and the mind (Mantzios and Egan, 2017).”

“…to teach mindful eating and related mindfulness practices (seeThe Center for Zervos et al. 7 weight management that is more considerate of physiological, behavioral and emotional regulation in the midst of weight loss and maintenance (see Egan and Mantzios, 2018 ; Mantzios and Egan, 2017).”

“Clinical interventions that target both self-kind-ness and mindfulness may be most successful in developing a self-compassionate stance that can balance both emotional health and physical health in proportionate ways (Mantzios and Egan, 2017).”

“As explained by Mantzios and Egan [89] this could be due to self-compassion and self-kindness capturing the eating of unhealthy foods as a method of being kind to oneself.”

“…been associated with better ability to cope with pain, increased well-being in later adulthood years, adaptive responses to illness, and increased engagement in health-promoting behaviours (Allen et al., 2012; Egan & Mantzios, 2018; Egan et al., 2019; Mantzios & Egan, 2017; Sirois et al., 2015).”

“One area that appears to be problematic within the concept of self-compassion is self-kindness [5].”

“This can assist people to become more accustomed to the concept of mindful eating, which could otherwise take longer to achieve through generic practices of mindfulness (Hong et al., 2014; Mantzios, 2021; Mantzios & Wilson, 2014).”

“…to identify failures and realise that poor mental health may need a compassionate reflection that is balanced between physical and mental expressions of self-care (Ali, Wong, Egan, Cook, & Mantzios, 2017; Egan et al., 2019; Egan & Mantzios, 2018; Mantzios & Egan, 2017; Mantzios & Giannou, 2018).”

“More research is required, and Mantzios and Egan [44] suggested that an association between self-kindness and self-care is required to achieve the most favorable version of selfkindness that will represented an equilibrium between body and mind in contemporary health research.”

“This type of response requires careful concentration and review of negative emotions.[26,27] Therefore, examining the level of access and exploitation of pregnant women in each region to pregnancy care, identifying the individual”

“However, reports suggest that the concept of self-compassion to assist regulated eating appears promising to help improve weight management [40,42].”

“Despite the vast amount of promising data, and propositions of health behaviour change (Egan & Mantzios, 2018; Hussain et al., 2020; Mantzios & Egan, 2017) there has been minimal research exploring the benefits of self-compassion in adult CF populations.”

“This biological process may lead individuals to consider highly palatable foods as “treats” that could be used to self-soothe.(14,15) Thus, these individuals may be managing emotional regulation inappropriately by using food to cope and this coping process is reinforced by this feedback loop.”

“The role of self-compassion with regard to eating behaviours and weight regulation has received more attention recently (Mantzios and Egan, 2017), being negatively associated with weight gain (Mantzios and Wilson, 2015).”

“…has been explored within body image and eating literature, where higher levels of self-compassion relating to higher levels of body satisfaction and lower reports of disordered or maladaptive eating (Egan et al., 2018; Mantzios & Egan, 2017; Rahimi-Ardabili et al., 2018; Regan et al., 2021).”

“‘Being strict with oneself’ in terms of eating can also translate into harsh self-judgement and criticism [13, 14].”

“…the cur - rent finding provided empirical support for the argument that self-compassion may provide individuals with a rea - sonable justification to engage in comfort-/pleasure-seeking during tough times, which can increase the risk of develop - ing an addictive disorder (Mantzios & Egan, 2017).”

“…aspects of mindful eating — that is, being immersed in the moment, listening to one’s body, and creating a body–mind connection — of adaptive eating, the association to self-compassion may be apparent in a continuum of self-care (Mantzios & Egan, 2017), which may derive from body esteem.”

“…that has linked mindful eating behavior and self-compassion both theoretically and practically (Mantzios et al., 2015, 2018a, 2018b , 2019, 2020; Egan & Mantzios, 2018; Hussain et al., 2021; Hussein et al., 2017; Mantzios & Egan, 2017; Mantzios & Giannou, 2018; Mantzios & Wilson, 2014, 2015).”

“For example, some research found the overall construct of self-compassion could increase individuals’ well-being, happiness, self-esteem, and decrease burnout, loneliness, and stress (Durkin et al., 2016; Hasselberg & Rönnlund, 2020; Mantzios & Egan, 2017; Neely et al., 2009).”

“In this study, it is assumed that selfcompassion (Mantzios and Egan, 2017; Horan and Taylor, 2018) and participation in youth group activities related to health (Pyas and Satlita, 2017).”

“The improved understanding of SC could be extended to help women tolerate and deal with weight-related distress and stigma [40].”

“Mantzios and Egan (2017) suggested that both the body and mind require nurturing in kind and compassionate ways.”

“Egan et al. (2019) discussed several costs, both physiological and emotional to HCPs that reflected barriers to providing compassionate care and the potential for a resulting lack in self-care (see also Egan et al., 2017).”

“Psychological self-soothing with food, alcohol, or physical inactivity can, in turn, cause harm to body composition (Mantzios & Egan, 2017).”

“…and draw associations between self-kindness and self-indulgence, while emphasizing an overarching theme of caring equally for body and mind (see Mantzios and Egan, 2017), which reflects on mindfulness practices and the way we need to perceive the non-evaluative and non-judgmental elements of…”

“…the linearity of relationships within gay and bisexual men, when compared with more traditional literature exploring general and other specific populations (Dutt et al., 2019; Egan & Mantzios, 2018; Hussein et al., 2017; Mantzios & Egan, 2017; Mantzios & Wilson, 2015; Rahimi-Ardabili et al., 2018).”

“As explained by Mantzios and Egan (2017) this could be due to self-compassion and selfkindness capturing the eating of unhealthy foods as a method of being kind to oneself.”

“Another common belief is that self-kindness may mean self-indulgence [33, 34].”

“Previous research has found that self-compassion can encourage an individual to care for their body (Egan and Mantzios, 2018; Mantzios and Egan, 2017), as such, terminating eating when one has reached physical fullness can be viewed as an act of self-compassion (Hussain et al., 2021).”

“For example, by treating yourself to unhealthy foods after a stressful day because you ‘deserve it’ may become problematic if repeated frequently (Mantzios & egan, 2017).”