Compassion-Focused Therapy on Levels of Anxiety and Depression Among Women with Breast Cancer; A Randomized Pilot Trial

Abstract

Background: Compassion can help people regulate their emotional responses to cancer-induced bodily changes. However, compassion effects on levels of anxiety and depression among breast cancer patients is largely unknown. Objectives: The present study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of compassion-focused interventions on anxiety and depression levels among patients with breast cancer in Ahvaz, Iran. Methods: This study was a randomized controlled trial with pre-and post-tests. Respondent-driven sampling was used to sample from women, who visited clinical oncology ward in Golestan Hospital in Ahvaz. The primary sample consisted of 30 patients with breast cancer. They, then, were randomly allocated to two experimental and control groups. Compassion-focused therapy (CFT) was provided to the experimental group for 8 weeks, and the control group only received motivational enhancement therapy (MET). The data were analyzed in two stages of pre-and post-test, using Chi-square test and covariance analysis through SPSS software. Results: After adjusting for pre-test scores, the primary outcomes showed that compassion-focused interventions had a significant effect on the reduction of depression symptoms; also, secondary outcomes showed that this intervention was associated with a significant decrease in anxiety levels (all < 0.001). However, according to the findings, the interventions had greater positive impacts on the anxiety levels. Conclusions: These findings can confirm the efficacy of psychological interventions in patients with cancer in planning future interventions and linking medical and psychiatric therapies.

Merhamet ve Merhamet Odaklı Terapi

“…Meme kanseri olan kadınların yaşadıkları anksiyete ve depresyon üzerinde MOT'un etkililiğine ilişkin yapılan deneysel çalışmada, kontrol grubuna motivasyon geliştirme terapisi (motivational enhancement threapy-MET) uygulanırken, deney grubuna 8 haftalık MOT uygulanmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda, MOT'un uygulandığı hastaların depresyon semptomlarında ve anksiyete düzeylerinde kontrol grubuna oranla daha fazla azalma olduğu saptanmıştır (Sadeghi, Yazdi-Ravandi ve Pirnia, 2018). Demans (bunama) hastalarına yönelik yapılan bir çalışma sonucunda, merhamet odaklı terapinin demans, moral bozukluğu, anksiyete ya da başka üzüntüleri olan insanların tedavisine uyarlanabileceği belirtilmiş ve MOT müdahalesinin öz-merhameti, ruh halini ve kaygıyı iyileştirebileceği ifade edilmiştir (Craig, Hiskey, Royan, Poz ve Spector, 2018).…”

Compassion in Clinical Care

“…As the authors observed, "When there is no shame or…fear, regardless of breast cancer-induced bodily changes, like removal of breast, a reliable basis for courage, curiosity, sociability, and flexible response to the challenges [of cancer] can be developed." [10] Compassion-focused therapies may also play a role in treating patients with chronic pain-a common complaint in primary care and on C-L services. One pilot study found that compassion meditation helped reduce anger and pain severity in a small group of patients (N=12) with chronic pain.…”

The Effectiveness of Group Counseling Based on Metacognitive Therapy and Dialectic Behavior Therapy on Reducing Anxiety in Boy Adolescent of Divorce

“…8 Different studies have executed about different therapeutic approaches. [9][10][11][12] One of these attitudes is metacognitive therapy. Achievement in anxiety therapy field should base on underlying mechanisms of morbid anxiety.…”