Self-compassion and chronic pain
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An exploration of the relationship between self-compassion and chronic pain.
IRAS ID
131410
Contact name
Joanne Jury
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Lancaster University
Research summary
There have been a number of studies which have looked at the relationships between chronic pain and psychological factors. It has been found that psychological factors, such as depression, anxiety and pain catastrophizing are major causes for people with chronic pain experiencing greater levels of pain intensity and disability. The recently studied concept of self-compassion has received very little attention in chronic pain research, and little is known about its relationship to chronic pain intensity.
Self-compassion is the idea that a person can be kind and gentle to themselves in times of difficulty, refraining from self-judgement, and seeing oneself as part of the human race rather than defective in some way. Self-compassion has been shown to improve psychological wellbeing, and recent research has suggested it has a role to play in chronic pain disability and pain-related distress.
It is a timely piece of work because self-compassion and compassion -focused therapies are an emerging phenomenon in clinical psychology, and if research suggests there are relationships between self-compassion, pain intensity and disability, this cold provide the beginnings of an evidence-base for using compassion-focused therapies in the treatment of chronic pain.
REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 1
REC reference
14/NS/0071
Date of REC Opinion
30 Apr 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion