Self-Compassion – the Next Step After Mindfulness

Self-Compassion – the Next Step After Mindfulness

Over the past decade, mindfulness has become a widely used approach for managing stress, improving focus, and supporting mental wellbeing. By training present-moment awareness, many people have learned to observe their thoughts and emotions with greater clarity and less reactivity.

However, research increasingly shows that awareness alone is not always enough.

The crucial question is not only whether we notice our suffering — but how we relate to ourselves when it arises.

A Growing Field of Research

Self-compassion is a rapidly growing area of psychological research, largely shaped by the work of Dr. Kristin Neff and Dr. Chris Germer. Together, they have demonstrated that self-compassion consists of three core capacities:

• responding to oneself with kindness rather than self-criticism,
• recognizing suffering as part of the shared human experience,
• maintaining mindful awareness even in moments of emotional difficulty.

Self-compassion builds on mindfulness — but adds something essential: an active, supportive response to inner struggle.

What Does the Research Show?

A comprehensive meta-analytic review of 27 randomized controlled trials (Linardon et al., 2020) found that self-compassion-based interventions lead to:

• reduced psychological distress,
• higher levels of acceptance,
• increased mindfulness.

Importantly, these effects remained even when controlling for mindfulness, indicating that self-compassion has a distinct and independent impact on mental wellbeing — not merely an indirect effect of increased awareness.

Self-Compassion in Digital Interventions

In a 2020 study, Andersson, Osika and colleagues compared a mindfulness app with a self-compassion app and a control group. The results showed that participants using the self-compassion app experienced:

• greater stress reduction than both the mindfulness app and the control group,
• increased self-compassion compared to controls,
• increased emotional awareness compared to controls.

These findings are particularly relevant in digital contexts, where users often seek support during periods of high stress, self-criticism, or emotional overload.

From Awareness to Inner Sustainability

Mindfulness helps us see clearly.
Self-compassion helps us stay grounded in what we see.

Together, they form a powerful foundation for long-term psychological resilience. Yet research suggests that self-compassion is often the missing piece — especially when stress is high and internal demands are harsh.

By learning not only to notice our inner experiences, but also to respond to them with care, we create the conditions for more sustainable mental wellbeing.

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