The ‘invisible shield’ against depression and anxiety

A team of researchers from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (SWPS University, Poland) has shown that practicing mindfulness and self-compassion reduce the likelihood of experiencing symptoms of depression, anxiety, or worry, findings that may have “important implications” for psychotherapy.

The study, published in the journal Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapyhas also stated that these two practices They are less frequent in those people diagnosed with depression than in those who are healthy.

These results are complemented with other existing research, demonstrating that mindfulness and self-compassion They can reduce vulnerability to emotional distress, in addition to having a “positive” influence on people’s mental well-being.

The work has had the participation of 344 people, of whom 146 had been diagnosed with depression, while the 198 The rest made up the healthy control group. All of them completed online questionnaires on self-compassion, mindfulness, worry, and symptoms of anxiety and depression.

The researchers have pointed out that Future studies could benefit from longitudinal and experimental designs to understand the causal precedence and dynamic nature of the relationship between mindfulness and self-compassion, and little is still known about how these two practices jointly influence the achievement and maintenance of well-being in healthy people and in those suffering from clinical disorders, such as major depression.

One leading theory suggests that when people are more aware of their mental health problems, they become more self-compassionate, and that by practicing self-compassion, They focus more on the present and accept even difficult experiences without resistance, believing that they can face adversity.

Other work indicates that worry is also an important factor in these mechanisms, and its impact on mental health can be mitigated by self pitywhich is precisely a factor to which the scientific community is devoting increasing attention, along with meditation, to understand its benefits on psychological well-being.

All of this is especially relevant in a context in which mental health is increasingly recognized, and in which depression is a global problem and the most diagnosed mental disorder in the world. Although various treatment methods already exist, the relationship between self-compassion, mindfulness, negative thoughts, and symptoms of depression and anxiety is still not fully understood.