In the article “Self-Compassion, Stress and Coping” I found that self-compassion can have many positive outcomes when dealing with a negative situation or event. The article looks at the ways in which people who have high levels of self-compassion versus people who have low levels of self-compassion cope with stress, in doing this the researchers show the positive effect of self-compassion. As Denise mentioned compassion and mindfulness as a coping strategy come from the teachings of Buddhism. The article identifies three primary features of self-compassion; self-kindness, common humanity and mindfulness. (Neff, 2003) A leading researcher on self-compassion, Dr. Neff, identified three components of self-compassion. Firstly in simple terms
self-compassion is treating ourselves with the same compassion we would give to someone whom we care about. (Neff 2003a) As well as practising self-kindness, someone who is self-compassionate accepts the reality that everyone experiences hardship and suffering and this “reduces the feeling of isolation” compared to someone who is low in self-compassion who may feel overwhelmed by loneliness and isolation, often feeling that they are the only one suffering, unable to see the reality of their situation. As it has been said that most of us are just one pay check away from being homeless, a self-compassionate person is aware of our common humanity. Mindfulness sees the situation as it is and not getting carried away with emotion in contrast to dwelling in negativity. A self-compassion scale was used to measure whether the participants of the research were high or low in self-compassion. (SCS; Neff, 2003a) While self-compassion can be an existing personality trait of some it can also be induced. As a coping strategy self-compassion promotes good mental health. Facts in the article show the benefits of introducing self-compassion as a coping strategy such as, “people who scored higher in self-compassion scored lower on measures of neuroticism and depression” (Leary et al., 2010, pg. 108). Therefore the article found that people with high self-compassion deal more effectively with stress. Skinner et al. (2003) identifies five core strategies of coping. Most of the points made show that those with self-compassion are more effective at coping with stress. An example is the relation between self-compassion and positive cognitive restructuring, in which someone who is self-compassionate is more likely to restructure their thoughts in a positive way when sealing with a negative situation. Research found that people who are self-compassionate are often more likely to take care of themselves, treating themselves with kindness and therefore doing what will have a positive outcome.
Compassion has became something rare in our society, and something that a lot of people lack. The author, Barbara Lazear Ascher, explains to us that compassion is not a character trait, but rather something that we learn along the way with the help of real life situations we encounter, such as the ones she encountered herself. Ascher persuades her audience that compassion is not just something you are born with by using anecdotes, rhetorical questions, and allusions.
In Dalai Lama’s piece, “The Ethic of Compassion”, he argues compassion is the key to life and happiness. Lama explains the meaning of compassion and ways to achieve it. Throughout his piece he rebuttals several different counter arguments. Lama is able to argue compassion is a responsibility to all, not just those we are close to and explains why it should be used in our professional and personal lives.
In a world of suffering and pain the Dalai Lama said, “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive”. The Dalai Lama has become a figurehead for Buddhism worldwide for his compassion and warm smiles. Buddhism has extended beyond meditation and even monks such as the Dalai Lama. The basic concepts of compassion and mindfulness in Buddhism are being applied in the daily lives of lay people who need it the most.
Compassion is a feeling that humans portray towards others, but you also have to act in some way to aid them and to decrease their suffering. Barbara Lazear Ascher's purpose “On Compassion” of her essay was to distinguish emotions that people feel towards homeless people. She posed the question of whether or not people feel compassion or pity towards homeless people. The thesis statement is the first sentence, which encompasses the main themes that compassions revolves around somebody’s circumstances, rather than a situation that one can dream about. In other words, it is one’s reality. Specifically, “the man’s grin is less the result of circumstance
What is compassion? It has two components. One component of compassion means to put yourself in another person’s shoes, and ask yourself, What if I were that person? How would I feel? So, compassion means to develop an awareness of the suffering in another person. Another component of compassion is self-compassion, having compassion doesn’t always have to be putting everyone else before you, sometimes compassion can mean putting yourself first. Throughout generations, compassion has played an important role in many people, it’s a natural instinct within all of us. We show compassion towards our loved ones, when confronted with someone in pain, we
This paper will also talk about the importance of self –care and what I would do, or things I could do to mitigate those biases and difficult reactions to clients and people that I am working with in a treatment team so that I am fully aware and not distracted by my personal reactions, to a case.
The progress made through this intervention has to be watched to see if it is temporary or something that will perdure with continues practice of gratitude contemplation and recording. Nevertheless, the intervention helped the participant in decreasing his self-worry. It is the opinion of the researcher that even though, gratitude intervention is successful in his case and other trials carried out by renowned scholars like, Emmons & McCullough, (2003), Emmons & Stein, (2013), Seligman et al (2005) Watsin et al (2003), Matsuba, (2011), more studies should be done to determine the effectiveness of this intervention, the population and cases where it is most effective.
Radey, M., & Figley, C. R. (2007). The social psychology of compassion. Clinical Social Work Journal, 35(3), 207-214.
In 2015, Proceeding of the National Academy was published, and the study was about compassion feeling in the society.
The definition of compassion is “sympathetic consciousness of another’s distress with a desire to alleviate it” (Merriam-Webster dictionary, 2011). Compassion and the desire to nourish may be the deciding factors that would lead one to pursue a career in nursing. Nurses over the span of their career will have extensive exposure to trauma, pain, and unfortunate situations. Workplace stressors such as scheduling and increasing workload along with repeated exposure to the hardships of others predisposes caregivers, especially nurses, to develop a unique type of burnout labeled compassion fatigue (Joinson 1992). Compassion fatigue develops when a nurse unintentionally takes on the misfortune, anxiety, pain, and trauma of the patients they care for.
Patsiopoulos and Buchanan (2011) used a narrative design research to study how 15 experienced counselors practice self-compassion in counseling. Based on the experiences of the participants, important information for training and educating practitioners in the areas of self-care and burnout prevention were obtained in the practice of ...
Kaviani & Hatami (2016), analyzed primary research information for a correlation between personality traits and mindfulness. In this report, mindfulness is defined as paying attention to every action, and showing the ability to change (Kaviani and Hatami 2016). Personality traits reviewed in this study are: empathy, Theory of mind, openness, pro-social behavior, and suggestibility. A questionnaire focusing on all five of the listed personality traits and mindfulness, were given to a group of 275 participants. It was found that those with a high mindful rating, correlated with the listed traits to a higher degree than those in with low mindful ratings (see Appendix A for chart). There were two classifications of mindfulness (low and high mindfulness).
Compassion cannot be confided to just a feeling or emotion of empathy, or the antidote to pleasure of peace. Compassion is a vehicle to improve one’s being, physically, mentally and emotionally. Even without the desire to reach Buddhahood, everyone can benefit from employing and expressing compassion as it is one of the few things one can do that benefits oneself as much as others.
Compassion fatigue is defined as “The emotional residue or strains of exposure to working with those suffering from the consequences of traumatic events” (The American Institute of Stress, n.d.). Compassion fatigue occurs when healthcare workers, especially those who work with patients one-on-one daily, feel the emotional stress of their jobs starting to wear on them. For example, a person who works with a cancer patient and watches that patient worsen and finally pass away, may experience great emotional pain. Dealing with stressful situations over time could also cause compassion fatigue. One way to prevent compassion fatigue is through implementation of Schwartz rounds. “Schwartz rounds are not 'problem solving'. Instead, the focus is on the emotional experiences of staff caring for patients and they allow staff to explore, in an environment that is safe and confidential, situations that confront them.” (Thompson, A. (2013). Schwartz rounds are like support groups for healthcare workers. They allow healthcare providers to share their struggles as caregivers and solve their strugg...
With compassion, people come closer together. Compassion provides love and without this emotion, humans would be isolated from one another. Love would not be considered love without compassion. It distinguishes a human from being heartless to one who cares for people other than themselves. Being compassionate leads a person away from a path of selfishness and builds strong relationships with others. The following authors did a great job of demonstrating this.