Compassion-focused therapy (CFT)

Compassion-focused therapy (CFT) is a therapeutic approach that was developed specifically to help people with feelings of shame and self-criticism. British psychologist Paul Gilbert began developing CFT in the early 2000s. The approach has grown rapidly in popularity and is now widely used by psychologists and therapists working in a broad range of settings with individuals across the lifespan.

The central theory of CFT is that the human brain has evolved in such a way that it causes us significant challenges; in fact, the ‘design’ flaws in our ‘tricky brain’ are what underly most common mental health difficulties. Therefore, learning to understand how and why our brain has evolved as it has, and finding ways to work with it, rather than against it, are key to experiencing greater psychological well-being.

One of the key aspects of CFT is Compassionate-Mind training, which helps individuals to relate more compassionately to themselves and others. It also involves exercises designed to strengthen our ‘soothe system’, the calming emotional regulation system present in all human beings. Developing this system enables individuals to create feelings of safety and comfort within themselves, building resilience to challenging life experiences and increasing tolerance for difficult emotions. Many of the core exercises from CFT draw from mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and encourage greater mind-body awareness.

CFT aims to help individuals to face up to the struggles and challenges in their lives with courage, and to commit to taking actions to alleviate their suffering, choosing helpful rather than harmful courses of action.

CFT has been adapted for use with children and young people in both group and individual therapy contexts. American Psychologist and researcher, Karen Bluth, has developed the ‘Mindful self-compassion course’ for teens, which has been a significant source of inspiration in the development of the You Grow Girl programme.

To find out more about CFT visit: Compassionate Mind

To find out more about the work of Karen Bluth visit:  Karen Bluth, Ph.D.

References:

Gilbert, P. (2014), ‘The origins and nature of Compassion Focused Therapy’, British Journal of Clinical Psychology (2014), 53, 6-41.