The Current and Future Role of Heart Rate Variability for Assessing and Training Compassion

“For example, trait self-compassion, measured by the Self-Compassion Scale (37) was found to be correlated to resting HRV and an increase in parasympathetic nervous system tone (43).”

“Indeed, there are times when high sympathetic tone is desired, for example, when helping to target states of helplessness (14).”

“Each of these approaches have been examined in randomized controlled trials, with early findings indicating compassion-based interventions are a promising intervention to help increase well-being and reduce suffering (28).”

“Furthermore, in CFT a focus of intervention is to help improve safeness for the client, and although this is hypothesized to generally be associated with higher HRV, it may also help a client feel empowered and give them confidence to challenge themselves, which could be linked to a higher resting sympathetic tone.”

“The assessment methods used in compassion training relies predominantly on self-report measures, such as the Self-Compassion Scale (37), and a recent review that critically examined the assessment measures for compassion concluded that self-report questionnaires assessing compassion have serious psychometric weaknesse…”

“Polyvagal theory, outlined by Porges (14), details how the activation of the myelinated parasympathetic nervous system helps in the regulation of the fight/flight response (autonomic sympathetic nervous system), thus enabling calmness and soothing to be achieved through having close proximity to others, giving/receivi…”

“To date, there have been several cross-sectional studies demonstrating lower levels of HRV in conditions, such as depression (39), anxiety (40), rumination (41), and self-criticism (42).”

“A time domain measure of HRV (root mean square successive differences) were obtained using HRV Analysis Software (48).”

“Another study (46) found compassion meditation increased positive emotions and HRV, and that effect moderated by baseline vagal tone.”

“Practicing compassion also has an impact on neurophysiology due to neuroplasticity (27), with a recent study showing that it has significant impacts on HRV (Matos et al.”

“Moreover, children with higher heart rate deceleration during evocative films showed increased subsequent compassionate behavior (20).”

“Interestingly, children with higher baseline HRV were rated by teachers and parents as more helpful and more able to regulate their emotions than those with lower HRV (21) and showed increased self-reports of sympathy, both dispositionally and in response to distress-inducing films (22).”

“Compassion training improves general well-being and social relationships (33, 34), with increasing evidence of its effectiveness as a psychotherapy (11, 35, 36).”

“There is now considerable evidence that being the giver and recipient of caring behaviors, particularly compassion, has a range of health benefits (29, 30) and can affect genetic expression (31, 32).”

“In this study, HRV was derived by inter-beat interval time series of electrocardiography and CMetx software (44).”

“To date, there have been several cross-sectional studies demonstrating lower levels of HRV in conditions, such as depression (39), anxiety (40), rumination (41), and self-criticism (42).”

“Compassion-focused therapy is notably different to the other interventions, as the theoretical underpinning is based on an evolutionary model that links to physiology (11).”

“Many species, such as fish, turtles, and other egg-laying reptiles produce large numbers of young ones, who need to disperse rapidly afterbirth to avoid predation, including, at times, from their own parents (1).”

“Compassion training improves general well-being and social relationships (33, 34), with increasing evidence of its effectiveness as a psychotherapy (11, 35, 36).”

“The inhibition of heart rate through the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system has shown to be linked to the orienting response and sustained outward attention, which constitute a core action tendency of compassion (17).”

“Specific strategies, such as breathing practices, friendly voice tones, and facial and body expressions, can activate the parasympathetic system, aiming to calm and soothe the individual, which improves HRV (25).”

“A second study (45) including 105 undergraduate college women (Mean age = 19.”

“Compassion training improves general well-being and social relationships (33, 34), with increasing evidence of its effectiveness as a psychotherapy (11, 35, 36).”

“Increased HRV in adults has been found to be specifically connected to the emotional state of compassion and not to positive affect in general (23), supporting the correlation between vagal activity and state-like episodes of compassion.”

“, sensitivity and awareness of distress) and (2) having a behavior–output repertoire that allows appropriate responsiveness to suffering (i.”

“Recent technologies aimed at providing biofeedback in order to increase HRV are also showing promise (50), although researchers are suggesting that technologies used to increase HRV are potentially more effective when combined with mindfulness or compassion-based techniques (50).”

“Interestingly, children with higher baseline HRV were rated by teachers and parents as more helpful and more able to regulate their emotions than those with lower HRV (21) and showed increased self-reports of sympathy, both dispositionally and in response to distress-inducing films (22).”

“Consistently, compassion-evoking stimuli (videos of other’s suffering) have shown to generate vagally mediated heart rate deceleration in children (18) and in adults, whose self-reports of sympathy and compassion were positively related to heart rate deceleration (19).”

“Consistently, compassion-evoking stimuli (videos of other’s suffering) have shown to generate vagally mediated heart rate deceleration in children (18) and in adults, whose self-reports of sympathy and compassion were positively related to heart rate deceleration (19).”

“One way to better focus future research in compassion science is via evolutionary insights into its origins and functioning situated within its neurophysiological architecture (4, 5, 10, 11).”

“Along with compassion there are many human motives including self-protection (harm-avoidance), sexual (finding a mate and reproducing), and caring-based motives (5, 12, 13).”

“Along with compassion there are many human motives including self-protection (harm-avoidance), sexual (finding a mate and reproducing), and caring-based motives (5, 12, 13).”

“For example, trait self-compassion, measured by the Self-Compassion Scale (37) was found to be correlated to resting HRV and an increase in parasympathetic nervous system tone (43).”

“(47) found that compassionate self-talk increased HRV and soothing positive affect, and that the effects on both physiological and self-report measures were amplified when participants were asked to repeat the phrases in front of a mirror.”

“There is now considerable evidence that being the giver and recipient of caring behaviors, particularly compassion, has a range of health benefits (29, 30) and can affect genetic expression (31, 32).”

“Moreover, recent findings (24) have shown that increases in vagally mediated HRV induced by Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation over the left temporal lobe, topographically close to the left insular cortex, was associated with increases in soothing positive affect: a feeling of perceived safeness and warmth which…”

“To date, there have been several cross-sectional studies demonstrating lower levels of HRV in conditions, such as depression (39), anxiety (40), rumination (41), and self-criticism (42).”

“CFT is notably different from the other interventions, as the theoretical underpinning also includes a combination of evolutionary psychology, attachment theory, and social mentality theory (Gilbert, 2014; Kirby, Doty, Petrocchi, & Gilbert, 2017).”

“More recently, a meta-analysis found compassion-based interventions led to benefits for both self-reported compassion (Cohen’s d = 0.55) and selfcompassion (d = 0.70) and mental health outcomes such as depression (d = 0.64), anxiety (d = 0.49), and well-being (d = 0.51) (Kirby et al. 2017b).”

“Indeed, there is good evidence that compassion training changes a range of physiological systems [68] including the immune and cardiovascular system, and areas in the frontal cortex due to neuroplasticity (see [108] for reviews).”