Background
Learning compassion can be a challenge for most people, but especially for those with a history of complex attachment and relational trauma. Oftentimes these individuals might later develop personality disorders. Researchers are beginning to explore how Compassion Focused Group Psychotherapy programs, an evidence-based group treatment designed to enhance compassionate skills, can be used by those who face particular challenges to connecting with others and extending that same compassion to themselves due to their traumatic past.
The Study
A research team in the United Kingdom utilized a quasi-experimental non-randomized design to study how Compassion Focused Group Psychotherapy programs would help those individuals who have complex attachment and relational trauma. Participants were recruited from tertiary care services. The group first completed a 12-week Preparation and Engagement intervention, which consisted of a Compassionate Mind Training and Psychoeducation as well as a 40-week Compassion Focused Trauma Group Intervention. The research team later assessed the group 12 months after, in which some participants were in their usual care. At numerous points in the study, the group was asked to complete self-report measures that captured their experience.
The Results
The study found that the long-duration Compassion Focused Group Psychotherapy intervention resulted in significant changes across all measures. Importantly, these significant changes were maintained 12 months later. The research team were able to determine that this group in fact had a reduction in service usage and a significant increase in engagement in employment and education as a direct result of the intervention. The research team concludes that the Compassion Focused Group Psychotherapy is helpful for those with complex attachment and relational trauma perhaps because of the perceived safeness of the group-based intervention. The team further suggests that the group nature of the intervention might be a necessary precursor to cultivate compassion and reworking early shame-based trauma memories.
