Effects of affirming values on self-compassion and mental health treatment stigma.

Abstract

Stigma surrounding mental disorders deters many people from treatment, and prior studies have shown that internalization of stigma is inversely correlated with self-compassion. We examined the effect of a valuesaffirmation task shown to increase state self-compassion on attitudes about mental disorders and their treatment. Participants completed measures of their mental health attitudes and experiences prior to a valuesaffirming writing task or control writing task, and afterward completed measures of state self-compassion, attitudes about mental disorders, and treatment. Participants in the values-affirming condition showed significantly higher state self-compassion and lower levels of desired social distance and internalized stigma toward people with mental disorders, relative to the control condition. Significant interactions also showed that affirmation of values was effective in decreasing internalized treatment stigma and increasing willingness to seek help among those high in perceived public stigma and among those with positive attitudes about treatment. These findings suggest that interventions that focus on affirming values increase self-compassion, reduce stigma surrounding mental disorders, and also reduce stigma about mental health treatment among individuals for whom perceived public stigma is a treatment barrier. Our study extends previous research showing that affirming values increase self-compassionate and pro-social responses, to show that it can help reduce stigmatizing views of mental disorders and their treatment, in both the self and others.

Self-compassion and women's experience of social media content portraying body positivity and appearance ideals.

“…We averaged the items (with the nine negative items reversed) to create a scale with α = 0.929 at pretest and 0.934 at posttest. Glazer et al (2021) found that this scale correlated significantly with Trait Self-Compassion subscales reflecting high Self-Kindness and low Self-Judgment, even after controlling for state mood and socially desirable responding.…”

“…State Self-Compassion. We measured state self-compassion through ratings of 18 adjectives (e.g., accepted, at peace, inadequate) intermixed with the PANAS items (as in Glazer et al, 2021). Participants rated each from very slightly or not at all (1) to extremely (5).…”

A self-compassion expressive writing intervention for sexual victimization stigma.

“…It is thought that self-compassion improves mental health by buffering against the effects of societal SV stigma. For example, research shows that greater dispositional self-compassion weakens the relationship between stigmatizing experiences and stigma internalization (Chong et al, 2023; Glazer et al, 2023; Heath et al, 2018), such that SV survivors who are self-compassionate report lower self-blame and shame (Carvalho & Guiomar, 2022). Self-compassion may have this effect by encouraging survivors to reject stigmatizing messaging around SV, maintain a sense of self-worth in the face of this messaging (Barnard & Curry, 2011; Wong et al, 2019), and encourage adaptive coping strategies such as self-care and seeking social support (Livingston & Boyd, 2010).…”

The mediating role of self‐compassion in the relationship between internalized stigma and psychological resilience in bipolar disorder

“…Since internalized stigma is frequently observed in mental illnesses like BD, several researchers state that the concept of self‐compassion might be important for patients to behave themselves understandingly and kindly (Brohan et al, 2011; Edwards, 2022; Heath et al, 2018; Mateer et al, 2023; Wong et al, 2019). Self‐compassion involves being open to one's own suffering, being able to contact this suffering, and easing it without avoidance and a desire for self‐healing with kindness.…”