The relationship of self-compassion and depression: Cross-lagged panel analyses in depressed patients after outpatient therapy

Abstract

Background: Previous cross-sectional studies suggest that self-compassion and depressive symptoms are consistently negatively associated. Although it is often implicitly assumed that (a lack of) self-compassion precedes depressive symptoms, so far no study has tested whether (lack of) self-compassion is a cause or a consequence of depressive symptoms, or both.

Method: To examine such reciprocal effects, we used data of 125 depressed outpatients after a time limited cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy. We assessed self-compassion and depressive symptoms via self-report measures and the presence of a major depressive episode directly after therapy, as well as 6 and 12 months later.

Results: Cross-lagged panel analyses indicated that (lack of) self-compassion significantly predicted subsequent depressive symptoms while controlling for autoregressive effects, whereas depressive symptoms did not predict subsequent levels of self-compassion. This was also the case for the relationship between self-compassion and the presence of a major depressive episode. The same patterns also occurred when we separately tested the reciprocal effects for two composite sub-measures of either positive or negative facets of self-compassion.

Limitations: Causality cannot be inferred from our results. Depressive symptoms and self-compassion could still be causally unrelated, and a third variable could account for their negative association.

Conclusions: These findings support the notions that (a lack of) self-compassion could serve as a vulnerability factor for depression and that cultivating self-compassion may deserve a focus in depression prevention programs or treatments.

Keywords: Cross-lagged panel analysis; Depression; Depressive symptoms; Longitudinal design; Self-compassion.