Compassion Focused Therapy: Clinical Practice and Applications

by Paul Gilbert (Editor), Gregoris Simos (Editor)

Overview

Compassion Focused Therapy: Clinical Practice and Applications offers evidence-based guidance and extensive insight into the science behind compassion focused therapy.

The first section of the book explores the evolution and physiological infrastructures of caring, and how compassion arises when humans use their complex cognitive competencies to address suffering deliberately and intentionally. With this framework and basis, the next sections of the book explore CFT applied to groups, specific interventions such as chair work, the importance of applying the principles of the therapy to oneself, the CFT therapeutic relationship, and a chapter offering a systematic review of the evidence for CFT. The third section offers a series of multi-authored chapters on interventions for a range of different mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, trauma, and many others.

Being the first major clinical book on compassion focused therapy, with leading international researchers and clinicians addressing central problems, this landmark publication will appeal to psychotherapists from a variety of schools as well as being a vital resource for compassion focused therapists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367476908
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	02/28/2022
Pages:	654
Product dimensions:	6.88(w) x 9.69(h) x (d)

About the Author

Paul Gilbert OBE qualified in clinical psychology in 1980 and is professor of clinical psychology at the University of Derby and has had a number of visiting international professorships. From his extensive clinical and research work he developed compassion focused therapy for people with complex mental health problems.

Gregoris Simos, MD, is a Professor of Psychopathology, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece. He is an internationally respected psychiatrist and a recognized authority in the field of contemporary psychotherapies (CBT, CFT). He is a member of the International Advisory Committee of the Beck Institute for CBT.

Table of Contents

List of figures xii

List of tables xiv

Directory xv

Acknowledgements xxi

Preface and overview xxiii

Section I Compassion focused therapy: an evolved biopsychosocial approach 1

1 Setting the scene: psychotherapy at a crossroads and a compassionate way forward Paul Gilbert 3

2 Compassion focused therapy: an evolution-informed, biopsychosocial approach to psychotherapy: history and challenge Paul Gilbert 24

3 The evolved functions of caring connections as a basis for compassion Paul Gilbert 90

4 Shame, humiliation, guilt, and social status: the distress and harms of social disconnection Paul Gilbert 122

5 Internal shame and self-disconnection: from hostile self-criticism to compassionate self-correction and guidance Paul Gilbert 164

6 Formulation and fears, blocks, and resistances Paul Gilbert 207

Section II CFT Practices and Settings 241

7 Introducing and developing CFT functions and competencies Paul Gilbert 243

8 Compassionate mind training: key themes Paul Gilbert 273

9 Meeting the challenges of a multi-mind and the role of grieving Paul Gilbert 313

10 Compassion focused therapy and the body: how physiological underpinnings of prosociality inform clinical practice Nicola Petrocchi Maria Di Bella Simone Cheli Cristina Ottaviani 345

11 Psychedelics, connectedness, and compassion Enzo Tagliazucchi Lorena Llobenes Natali Gumiy 360

12 Self-practice/self-reflection (SP/SR) training for compassion-focused therapists Tobyn Bell Tara Hickey James Bennett-Levy 371

13 The therapeutic relationship in compassion focused therapy Hannah Gilbert 385

14 A group mindfulness and compassion-focused therapy programme Francis Gheysen Marine Paucsik Pascal Delamillieure 401

15 Compassion focused therapy in groups Derek Griner Mark E. Beecher Gary M. Burlingame David M. Erekson Kara Cattani 413

16 Compassion-focused group psychotherapy for people who could attract a diagnosis of personality disorder Kate Lucre 427

Section III Specific Applications 443

17 Compassion focused therapy chair work Tobyn Bell 445

18 Compassion focused therapy (CFT) for emotion regulation difficulties Chris Irons 459

19 Compassion focused therapy for the treatment of anxiety Dennis Tirch 479

20 True Strength: using compassion focused therapy in the treatment of problematic anger Russell L. Kolts 494

21 Compassion focused therapy in forensic settings Diana Ribeiro da Silva Daniel Rijo 505

22 The roles of shame, self-criticism, and compassion focused therapy in eating disorders and disordered eating Ken Goss Allison Kelly 519

23 Compassion focused therapy: an evolutionary and biopsychosocial understanding of depression and its management Gregoris Simos 534

24 Compassion focused therapy for voice-hearing and delusions in psychosis Charles Heriot-Maitland 549

25 Using compassion focused therapy to work with complex PTSD Deborah Lee 565

26 A compassionate focused therapy approach to supporting parents and children James N. Kirby 584

27 Overview of outcome research on compassion focused therapy: a scoping review Jaskaran Basran Joanne Raven Ptarmigan Plowright 600

Index 616

Editorial Reviews

'The framework of compassionate relating to self and others is now driving innovative practices with many clinical problems. There is a wealth of theoretical and practical ideas here that cannot fail to inspire clinicians who use or are interested in compassion focused therapy.'

Chris Brewin, Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychology, University College London

'This book is an extraordinary achievement, one that anyone interested in a biopsychosocial model, and compassion focused therapy should read. It serves up an incredible array and depth of theory, linked to the latest science, topped up with wonderful helpings of clinical examples of many presentations, each underlining the importance and potential of this approach. This is a book to savour, and return to and is highly recommended'

Graham Music, The Tavistock clinic author of Nurturing Natures: Attachment and Children’s Emotional, Sociocultural and Brain Development, Second Edition (Routledge)

'This book is a gem, with powerful tools for trauma, shame, depression, and anxiety - and applications for a wide range of settings. The writing is clear and useful, and the science is solid, with frequent flashes of transformational insight. It is a masterwork, a mature and comprehensive summary of what is currently the very best integration of evolutionary neuroscience, clinical effectiveness, and far-reaching kindness.'

Rick Hanson, Ph.D., author of Neurodharma: New Science, Ancient Wisdom, and Seven Practices of the Highest Happiness

'The extraordinary efflorescence and maturation of Compassion Focused Therapy over the past two decades is brilliantly documented in this comprehensive volume. The initial chapters provide a wide-ranging, deeply illuminating review of the evolution-informed, biopsychosocial model that undergirds CFT, while the subsequent chapters describe the application of CFT to numerous clinical and non-clinical problems. The combination of novel theoretical insights and myriad therapeutic strategies and tactics that are tightly integrated with the theory promises a revolution in the fragmented world of psychotherapy and, more broadly, wellness interventions. The book is a must-read for anyone interested in theory, research, or treatment that addresses human suffering and psychopathology.'

David Zuroff, Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of Montreal

'This inspiring and authoritative volume establishes Compassion Focused Therapy as one of the major therapeutic advances of the our time. Psychological therapists, of all traditions, from beginner to expert will be enriched by the theoretical and practice insights of this approach. One of the top ten psychotherapy books – a must have.'

Professor Peter Fonagy OBE, FMedSci, FBA, FAcSS, University College London

'Few books in clinical psychology begin with an understanding of human nature. This exceptional book by Paul Gilbert, Greg Simos and an international group of scholars in the field of compassion focused therapy covers almost every imaginable perspective on the role of compassion and helps us understand the human side of being a human being. Beginning with Paul Gilbert’s extraordinary contribution and understanding of the evolution of compassion, the chapters move on by exploring the science, the application, and the meaning of compassion. It is hard to imagine life without compassion, but sadly many people live such desolate lives. Every clinician should read this book not only for the science but for the humanity it represents.'

Robert L. Leahy, Ph.D., Director, American Institute for Cognitive Therapy author of Emotional Schema Therapy

'This excellent and comprehensive volume contains a biopsychosocial model, informed by evolutionary theory. It is an important resource, systematically exploring compassion from many vantage points. It has certainly motivated me to put an increased focus on incorporating principles of compassion-focused therapy into my cognitive behavior therapy practice. I highly recommend this book!'

Judith S. Beck, PhD, President, Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy; Clinical Professor of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania; Author of Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Basics and Beyond

From the Publisher