Burnout

Most people go through periods where they feel tired or unhappy at work. However, if your job leaves you feeling emotionally exhausted, beyond the point of caring, or unable to function normally, you might be experiencing burnout.

Burnout is a common issue that can affect almost anyone in any job. Research suggests that around 18% of people in some countries struggle with high levels of burnout, and many more are at risk. While burnout is usually a work-related problem, it can also arise in other settings, such as bereavement, sports, and education.

If it isn’t addressed, burnout can lead to serious difficulties, including problems with your mental and physical health, work, or functioning in daily life. You might be worried about it returning if you’ve been burned out. The good news is that burnout can be addressed in different ways, whether working at the level of an individual, a team, or an organisation. Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) is an effective psychological treatment that can help you overcome this issue.

In CFT, we work to challenge these self-critical thoughts by introducing a compassionate perspective.

CFT emphasises understanding that burnout is not a sign of personal failure but a result of the brain and body being overwhelmed by stress.                                                                           

CFT operates on the concept of three core emotional systems: threat, drive, and soothing.

Burnout occurs when the ‘drive’ system is overactivated, constantly pushing to achieve more, while the ‘soothing’ system, responsible for rest and self-care, is underutilised. People can learn to activate their soothing system, restoring balance and creating a sense of calm and safety.

For more about the three core emotional systems, visit my blog post https://iancartwright.co.uk/2024/11/04/what-is-compassion-focused-therapy/

What is burnout?

‘Burnout’ describes what happens when we feel so depleted by the stresses of work that we struggle to perform. We may feel emotionally drained, unmotivated, and ineffective.

Burnout isn’t something that happens overnight – it’s usually caused by a build-up of stressful things happening inside (and sometimes outside) of work. When you reach the point of burnout, you’ll typically experience some of the following symptoms.

What’s the difference between stress and burnout?

While stress is one of the main causes of burnout, the two are quite different. Most people experience stress as being too ‘full’ of tension, pressure, or anxiety. Burnout, however, feels like you’re extremely ‘empty’ of energy, motivation, or hope.

When you are stressed…When you are burned-out…
Your emotions are heightened.Your emotions are dulled.
You become more active.You become more withdrawn.
You feel anxious.You feel low.
Your work seems meaningful.Your work seems meaningless.

What is it like to struggle with burnout?

Anika’s stresses at work pushed her past the point of caring

I was lucky enough to be offered my ‘dream job’ soon after I qualified. I knew it would be a demanding role, but I was enthusiastic about doing a job that mattered to me.

As I expected, work was challenging from the start. I had to help many people daily, so I had to stay in the office late into the evening, catching up on paperwork. I was so worried about making mistakes that I did everything as thoroughly as possible. What surprised me was how unhappy my team was: they weren’t very welcoming and always complained about their jobs. I tried to keep my distance so the negativity wouldn’t rub off on me.

A few months after I joined the service, my team leader resigned. I was asked to step into his role, which seemed like a great opportunity. Looking back, I can see it was a big mistake. Being a ‘lead’ was very different from the work I’d done before. I still needed to do my usual tasks, but I also had to manage everybody else in the team – I was completely new to that. My co-workers became hostile towards me because they didn’t want to be managed by someone so ‘new’, and every day I felt like I was under attack. What made it worse was how little support I was given. As a senior team member, I didn’t receive any supervision or mentoring. I felt like a pilot flying through a fog, desperately trying to do a good job but with no idea what direction to go.

As time went on, work started to take over my life. My responsibilities increased, so I had to work harder and longer to keep up. I stopped taking breaks and spent my evenings preparing for the day. I also started drinking after work, which probably made my already poor sleep even worse. When the weekend arrived, all I wanted to do was rest and cut myself off from everything else.

Slowly, my stress turned to exhaustion. I felt like I couldn’t keep up anymore, as if the job had defeated me. It’s hard to explain how tired and empty I felt. My attitude towards work also changed. I used to feel passionate about helping people, but by this point, I was past the point of caring. Nothing I did seemed to matter. The problems with my team got worse as well. I avoided interacting with them as much as possible, and whenever I did, I behaved dismissively. I didn’t like the person I’d become.

When I spoke to my GP about my recurrent stomach aches, the idea of ‘burnout’ came up. I thought I might be depressed or just not suited to the job, but my doctor explained that it was a common problem in professions like mine. I hope I can find my enthusiasm for work again.

Am I burned out?

It’s sometimes difficult to notice burnout, particularly if you’ve been struggling with it for a long time or don’t pay much attention to your own needs. It can also look and feel like depression (although depression is a different type of problem and requires a different kind of treatment).

Answering the questions below can give you an idea of whether it is worth arranging a professional assessment.

Does your work leave you feeling exhausted? Yes No
Have you lost the energy and enthusiasm you had for your job? Yes No
Do you ever appear uncaring, disinterested, or insensitive at work? Yes No
Have you started caring less about your clients or colleagues? Yes No
Do you think that nothing you do at work makes a difference? Yes No
Do you feel frustrated, disappointed, or disillusioned with your job? Yes No
Are you neglecting yourself (e.g., not taking time to rest, eat, or exercise)? Yes No
Have your family, friends, or colleagues noticed a change in your character? Yes No

If you answered ‘yes’ to most of these questions, you may be struggling with burnout. You can book a free call on my website through this link https://iancartwrightcft.co.uk/my-three-step-process/

What causes burnout?

Burnout doesn’t have a single cause, but there are some things that make you more likely to experience it:

  • Your job. Work environments play a big role in burnout. If you have a large workload, long hours, or little control over your job, you may be at greater risk. Burnout has also been linked to having conflicting or unclear roles at work, feeling unsupported, and receiving a lack of feedback from others. Professionals who work in ‘people-focused’ jobs (e.g., teachers and medical professionals) are particularly at risk of severe burnout, but burnout is relevant to all types of work.
  • Your personal life. Problems outside of work can sometimes increase the risk of burnout. These include relationship difficulties, financial worries, caring for a family member, and conflicts between work and family commitments.
  • Your personality. Some personality traits appear to be related to burnout. If you are the type of person who finds it difficult to cope with stressful events, you doubt your worth or competence, or if you tend to experience more negative emotions and fewer positive emotions, you may be at greater risk of burnout.
  • Your beliefs. Some research suggests that your beliefs about yourself and your work can affect burnout. For example, one study found that beliefs about needing to meet high personal standards (e.g., perfectionism) were linked to burnout in trainee therapists. Other studies have found a similar link between perfectionism and burnout.
  • Genetic factors. Research evidence suggests that there may be genes that make you likely to develop emotional problems in general, and the same is probably true of burnout. However, your experiences in and around work are likely to play a bigger role.

What keeps burnout going?

Burnout can be looked at through different lenses. It can be seen as an individual problem, an organisational problem, or a problem in our society. Often, all these perspectives are relevant. This means that there are several ways people with burnout can be helped.

Research studies have shown that Compassion Focussed Therapy (CFT) is an effective treatment for burnout.

This diagram suggests several things that keep burnout going once it starts.

These include:

Organisational understanding of burnout

Understanding mental health and well-being issues can be very helpful in the modern workplace.

Mental Health First Aid Training can be very useful. In addition to mental health first aid training, I offer a consultation service to help organisations develop mental health and well-being policies and procedures. This link will provide you with the information you need www.iancartwrightmhfa.co.uk/workplace/

Compassionate Mind Training (CMT)

Most humans have a natural capacity for compassion, a natural and automatic response that ensures survival. Louis Cozolino pointed out, “We are not the survival of the fittest. We are the survival of the nurtured.” He further added, “Those who are nurtured best survive best.

Compassion is fundamental to our basic nature and enhances our everyday experience of being human at a personal, interpersonal, organisational, and social level’s. An increasing body of research indicates that cultivating a compassionate mind for oneself and others has significant benefits, such as promoting well-being, resilience, and social connection (Neff & Germer, 2017).

Compassion is defined as the feeling that arises when we notice the struggles in ourselves, and others associated with the commitment to alleviate and prevent suffering. Cultivating compassion for ourselves and others helps us develop the strength to cope with suffering, take compassionate action, and to avoid burnout.

Cultivating Compassionate Mind Training practices, therefore, enables the building of an internal secure base and safe haven. The intention is always to be helpful, and not harmful to ourselves.

Compassionate Mind Training is a crucial part of Compassion-focused Therapy because many of us may not have the capacity to recover and flourish. Compassionate Mind Training, in its various forms, produces changes in the autonomic nervous system. The various forms of Compassionate Mind Training include a number of practical exercises and techniques,

This includes mindfulness, breathing exercises, imagery exercises, setting compassionate intentions and taking compassionate actions, and deploying compassion itself to bring compassion to aspects of ourselves and others, especially in order to relieve suffering.


Compassionate resilience
In today’s fast passed and pressured working environments. Be that in delivering health, educational, welfare, or commercial services for any organisation with compassion increases satisfaction and engagement and reduces the threat of burnout.

However, over time, for various reasons, professionals may start showing symptoms of empathic distress fatigue, compassion fatigue, secondary trauma, and burnout, all of which negatively impact the quality of their productivity and profitability, and the level of service offered to their clients.

Providing a continuous flow of delivery, in the absence of self-compassion, can lead to depletion and burnout. Professionals greatly benefit from compassionate mind training where they actively engage with the three flows of compassion.


The Three Flows of Compassion
•    Compassion for others (compassion flowing out), which involves an awareness of the experience of compassion in ourselves, and then directing compassion towards other people. For example, towards a work colleague who is struggling or making a connection with a client.
•    Compassion from others (compassion flowing in), which refers to the experience of receiving and accepting compassion from other people.
•    Compassion from our self to our self (self-compassion), where we attend to ourselves with sensitivity and understanding to support and care for ourselves (not always easy).

Each of those abilities has its obstacles and can be cultivated through visualisations, meditation and intentional actions. Compassionate Mind Training, which focuses on each specific aspect of the three flows of compassion, will strengthen the overall capacity to attend to ourselves and others with compassion and build increasing resilience.

There is a growing body of research indicating that cultivating self-compassion helps us deal with our distress and trauma in the workplace and promotes our ability to deliver services. Often, professionals are more comfortable offering support to others than themselves and find it difficult to receive care and compassion from others. Cultivating the three flows of compassion provides a more sustainable approach.

The following two exercises aim to cultivate the three flows of compassion, beginning with cultivating an image of an inner compassionate self that offers compassion to others. We can also receive compassion from others but also offer compassion to the self (self-compassion), where one attends to and receives compassion from the self to the self.  


Visualisation of practising a chosen flow of compassion
First, identify a flow of compassion where you notice inner resistance and where you would like to cultivate more ease.


Affirm your intention to cultivate this flow such as:
May I receive compassion from others with ease?
May I be compassionate to others?
May I give myself the compassion that I need?

Second, visualise a situation from your past where this flow was required or a future event where this flow will be required.

During the visualisation, notice the resistance and the discomfort, and let it be as it is. Explore how you can bring acceptance and kindness to the unease, allowing yourself to be as you are. In your way, at your pace, re-affirm gently your intention in your visualisation. Visualise yourself making progressive steps in engaging in some way in the practice of this flow of compassion as best as you can.

For instance, if it is difficult for you to receive compassion from others, recall a past situation in which someone praised you or was kind, understanding, or helpful to you.

Notice the initial resistance and possibly avoidance, with acceptance and kindness, letting yourself be as you are.

Then, imagine allowing yourself to receive this praise and kindness with calm and appreciation.

Visualising yourself smiling and accepting the kindness with delight. 

What would you like to have said to this person in return? How would you like to express your gratitude? Can you imagine yourself saying “thank you” to this person? Then, let go of the scene and notice what is here for you, reaffirming your intention.

You may need to practice this visualisation many times before the situation becomes easier for you.

Explore how you can also change your behaviour in such a situation where you become more relaxed and expressed gratitude.


Loving-kindness meditation
The practice of loving-kindness meditation can help us to cultivate the three flow of compassion.

We send out loving-kindness to a loved one,
May you be happy
May you be well
May you be healthy
May you have peace
May you have ease of being

We imagine our loved one in return wishing us well (receiving goodwill from others), saying:
May you be happy
May you be well
May you be healthy
May you have peace
May you have ease of being

We offer ourselves loving-kindness phrases (self-compassion)
May I be happy
May I be well
May I be healthy
May I have peace
May I have ease of being

If you wish, you could also offer similar loving-kindness phrases to a neutral person or a difficult person.

If you are interested in exploring this further, we offer an eight-session course.


Session One

Defining compassion, how and why we suffer and the role of our tricky brains and the old brand new brain loops that we get caught up in.


Session Two

Looks at the three circles model of emotions: threat, drive and soothing.


Session Three

It goes a little deeper, discussing the idea that we’re made up of multiple parts and that one of these parts is compassion itself. Cultivating this compassionate self is at the heart of CMT.


Session Four

Starts to explore the three flows of compassion,

Beginning with the flow of directing compassion to others.

The compassionate self helps with this, offering compassion to others.

In this session, CMT also looks at fears, blocks, and resistances to compassion, particularly to this first flow.


Session Five

Discusses the second flow of compassion, how we can open ourselves up to receiving compassion from others. This is a tricky one. So, CMT explores fears, blocks, and resistances, identifying opportunities to notice and accept compassion from others in our lives.


Session Six

It focuses on self-compassion, bringing the compassionate self to ourselves, exploring practical skills and strategies, and examining the fears, blocks, and resistances that may also arise for this flow.


Session Seven

Looks at another important part, the critical self. We also explore the forms and functions of self-criticism and how to direct compassion to this part of ourselves.


Session Eight

It brings in a range of other parts, especially the big three: the angry self, anxious self, and sad self, and how we can extend our compassion to these evolutionarily significant yet sometimes very difficult emotional selves.


Session Nine

In this last session of CMT, we also explore how to maintain it all, living a compassionate life inside and out.

Importantly, throughout these sessions are lots of practical exercises and techniques,

things like mindfulness, breathing exercises, imagery exercises, setting compassionate intentions and taking compassionate actions, deploying the compassion itself to bring compassion to aspects of ourselves and others, especially in order to relieve suffering.

And there is home practice, audio recordings, building self-awareness, behavioural tasks and little experiments to help move from learning about compassion to practicing it and eventually embodying that compassionate self.

The Three System Model

The Three System Model – sometimes called the Three Circle Model – is an important part of Compassion Focussed Therapy and can play a helpful role in someone understanding themselves and their emotional lives. It’s something that we spend time introducing in therapy, but also in the self-help use of the Compassionate Mind model. 

Scientists have many theories about how many emotion ‘systems’ we have. Some have tried to separate these between ‘positive’ (e.g. excitement, joy) and ‘negative’ (e.g. shame, fear) emotions. This doesn’t mean ‘good’ or ‘bad’, but just how they feel when we experience them. Others have split emotions by their energy, with ‘high’ energy emotions like excitement and fear, and ‘low’ energy emotions like types of sadness, and contentment. And then other psychologists have split emotions by the direction they take us in. So, ‘towards’ emotions like excitement and anger, and ‘away’ emotions like disgust and fear. 

In Compassion Focused Therapy we have a different approach to this. Here, we suggest that it’s useful to consider how our emotions can be grouped together based on their function – that is, what they evolved to help us to do.

For example, if you’re threatened in some way you might experience feelings of fear or anxiety. Or maybe, if this threat involves you (or someone you love) being treated unfairly, then it might be anger you experience.  In contrast, if you’re achieving things, you might have pleasant emotions such as joy, excitement and happiness.  However, we can also have pleasant emotions that are calming and soothing, for example, when we feel safe and cared for.

With the three-system model in CFT, we suggest that evolution has shaped our emotions to have different functions, all of which have been helpful in facilitating our chances for survival and reproduction and ultimately, passing our genes on.  In this sense, these emotion systems are fundamentally tied to three important life tasks:

  • threat detection/harm avoidance
  • acquiring things for our survival (e.g. food, shelter, reproductive opportunities)
  • resting and conserving energy

From this perspective, the three emotion systems you’re going to read about below link to each of these tasks. They emerged to facilitate, guide and give energy to each of them

Understanding the Three System Model

Given that it’s referred to as ‘the three circle’ model, it’s probably not surprising that the model has three circles, or systems! Each of these has a colour ascribed to it, as after a while, people use this as a simple way of communicating things. For example, “I’ve been in my red system all week, it’s been so difficult”, or “I’ve been trying my best to get in to my green system, but I’ve found this almost impossible. 

So, what are the names of each of the three circles? Well, they are:

1. Threat System, with emotions like anger, fear and disgust, this system evolved in all animals with the function to help us identify and respond to threats in the world. Once activated, this system directs physiology, attention, thinking, behaviour and emotion to reach safety.

2. Drive System, linked to higher energy pleasurable emotions like excitement and joy, which motivate us to move towards resources and goals that might be helpful to us, and leave us feeling good when we achieve them. This system is important in motivating people to get things that are useful to them and others, and is highly rewarding. 

3. Soothing System, linked to feelings like contentment, calmness and safeness, which helps us to engage in periods of rest and peacefulness when we are not threatened or trying to achieve things. This system is also associated with giving and receiving care from others.

We show this model visually like this (a copy of this can be downloaded here):

Visual of Three Circle Model

Whilst each of these systems are biologically primed, these are also learning systems. This means that through our lives, our experiences – for example, with other people – shape how these three systems develop. For some people, this might mean that their threat system (for example) is triggered very quickly, or that one part of it (e.g. anger) is primed to respond to potential difficulties in their environment. This isn’t anyone’s fault when this happens, but using the three system model can be a helpful way of supporting people to understand themselves and ultimately, think about how they can get more balance within the three circle model.

Of course, we can have a different balance to the three circles in different parts of our lives. For example, at work, it might be that there’s a lovely balance between threat, drive and soothing, but at home with our partner, they are massively out of balance. Here, it might be threat system is dominant, and the other two are small. It can be useful to get familiar with these different contexts. The more aware we are of their balance and functioning, the more likely we are to do something different, to bring change in a helpful way.

A key part of CFT and Compassionate Mind Training is how to bring change to the three-circle model. If in therapy, this is in part done via a safe, caring and empathetic therapeutic relationship. But CFT also utilising a number of exercises and interventions that can support this, that can change how our three-system model is balanced. 

In a simple way, CFT and CMT – and compassion and self-compassion more generally – aims to reduce threat system, build the drive system (in a healthy, sustainable way) and cultivate the soothing system so people feel safer inside themselves and with others. 

What is Compassion Focused Therapy?

There’s lots of ways to answer this. CFT (Compassion Focused Therapy) is a psychological therapy which aims to help reduce distress and psychological difficulties, as well as increasing happiness, wellbeing and flourishing.  CFT does this by helping people to cultivate their compassionate minds, which in turn, allows them to engage with the difficulties they are facing in a wise and helpful way.

Ultimately, this approach helps people to become more compassionate in three directions:

  • to others
  • from others
  • to themselves (self-compassion)

What is Compassion?

To understand “What is Compassion Focused Therapy?”, we first need to think about what compassion is. 

There is a long history of compassion being held as a powerful way of relieving suffering and human distress.

In CFT, we define compassion as “…a sensitivity to suffering in self and others, with a commitment to relieve and prevent it.”

A useful way of understanding this definition is to see how it holds two related but separate parts: 

  1. Being able to notice, engage with, tolerate and understand difficulties, distress or suffering 
  2. Being able to take wise action to manage, reduce, relieve and prevent difficulties, distress or suffering

Although people sometimes think that compassion just involves being nice, kind and warm, it’s important to recognise that it often also requires courage and strength.

For example, compassion to others could be observed when a firefighter enters a burning building to save someone trapped inside.  

The firefighter is aware of the trapped person’s distress (1st part of compassion), and has trained to take wise steps to rescue them (2nd part of compassion). Clearly here their compassion is not soft or gentle, but instead, is underpinned by courage and strength to move towards danger in order to alleviate someone’s distress. 

Similarly, self-compassion, particularly when it involves engaging in painful internal experiences, like shame, fear and trauma, needs a big dose of strength and courage to enable us to tolerate painful feelings in order to find ways to alleviate our pain. 

The Three Flows of Compassion

CFT is unique in compassion-based approaches, as it highlights the importance of three key flows of compassion:

  • compassion to others
  • compassion from others
  • self-compassion

Each of these flows are important, and are related to psychological distress and wellbeing in different ways. And whilst self-compassion is a significant focus, we’re interested in how to cultivate all of the flows. 

Alongside understanding the three flows of compassion, it’s also useful to consider the fears, blocks and resistances (FBRs) to compassion. These are common for many people, and can be a major focus of therapy and Compassionate Mind Training. Research has found that following therapy and CMT, the fears of compassion are (on average) significantly reduced.

How did CFT develop?

CFT was developed over a number of decades by Professor Paul Gilbert, a clinical psychologist based in the UK. He developed CFT in part as a response to the realisation that some people – particularly those high in shame and self-criticism, who often had difficult or traumatic early life experiences – didn’t benefit from standard therapeutic interventions as other people with less severe difficulties tended to.

Part of Paul’s insights linked to a recognition that many of his clients had an internal voice that was highly self-critical, hostile and angry, and that this seemed to block the potential helpfulness of therapy. So CFT emerged as a way of understanding our internal, self-to-self relationship, and finding ways to shift this from self-criticism to self-compassion.?

What ideas and theories does CFT draw from?

At its heart, CFT is a highly integrated, biopsychosocial approach. This means it draws upon and from a wide range of therapeutic and scientific ideas, including:

  • Attachment theory
  • Developmental psychology
  • Social psychology
  • Evolutionary theory and evolutionary psychology 
  • Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)
  • Psychodynamic approaches and ideas
  • Neuroscience and neurophysiology
  • Social psychology
  • Buddhist principles and practices

Although CFT was initially developed for people with difficult and sometimes traumatic backgrounds, who often struggled with high levels of shame and self-criticism, many studies now show that CFT is an effective approach to working with a variety of psychological and mental health difficulties.

What’s involved in a CFT session?

CFT is similar to other therapies, in that the therapist will spend some time getting to know the client, the difficulties they’ve been experiencing, and how they might have developed (for example, by thinking about someone’s experiences in life, and how these might have impacted what they are going through today).  They’ll do this in part by asking questions and bringing this understanding together in something called a formulation a bit like a map to help both therapist and client understand what led to some of the difficulties being experienced, but what direction therapy might take to relieve these. All of this will be done whilst establishing a safe, trusting and warm therapeutic relationship. 

As a part of some of the early sessions, the therapist will introduce some ideas that are central to the approach, like the tricky brain and the three system model, and help their client to understand how these apply in their lives. The therapist will then go on to help the client to cultivate their compassionate mind. This means learning about the different skills that help us to be compassionate to ourselves and others, and also how to find it easier to receive compassion and care from others. As part of this process, clients will be introduced to varies types of skills training known as Compassionate Mind Training (CMT). These may may include various guided exercises and practices like:

  • Attention training
  • Mindfulness practice
  • Breathing and body practices
  • Imagery practices
  • Compassionate action
  • Chair work
  • Expressive writing (compassionate letter writing)
  • Appreciation and gratitude practice
  • Working with multiple parts
  • Balancing thoughts

Depending on the type of difficulties that clients might be having, there may be a particular focus on working with common difficulties like high levels of shame and self-criticism and various fears of compassion. CFT has a variety of techniques and interventions to help people with this.

Outside of therapy sessions, clients will have the opportunity to practice the exercises and meditations often through guided audio files, the Self-Compassion App or self-help books (for example, The Compassionate Mind Workbook).

But of course, all of this will happen within a kind, caring and compassionate atmosphere. The therapeutic relationship is central to the process of CFT, so the therapist will strive to create a safe and empathetic space for the client, in which difficulties and distress can start to be shared in a way that feels helpful, and not overwhelming. 

CFT is primarily a ‘human’ approach, in that we recognise that all of us have been bestowed with a tricky brain that easily gets caught up in loops; that we have a threat system that comes pre-packaged with emotions like anger, grief and shame that can be difficult to manage and can cause us and others pain; that all of us have been shaped by experiences in like, many of which we had little or no control over. And that this applies to the therapist, just as much as it does to the client. So the therapeutic relationship is crucial in creating the conditions for positive change and improved emotion regulation. 

What issues are treated by CFT?

Whilst we’ve been looking at ‘What is Compassion Focused Therapy?’, it’s also important to think about what difficulties it can help with. 

CFT was originally described as a transdiagnostic approach to working with psychological and mental health problems. There are now published studies showing CFT’s effectiveness working within clinical and none clinical settings

From a clinical perspective

  • Depression
  • Burnout
  • Anxiety
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
  • Trauma/Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Eating disorders (like anorexia or bulimia)
  • Bipolar disorder
  • Psychosis
  • Personality difficulties
  • Suicidal thoughts and self-harm
  • Psychological problems in health conditions (like head injury, chronic pain and cancer)
  • Sexual difficulties
  • Intellectual difficulties 
  • Psychopathic traits

It’s also worth noting that it’s not just mental health diagnoses that CFT has been shown to be helpful for. There’s also lots of evidence that it helps to reduce:

  • Shame
  • Self-criticism
  • Worry
  • Rumination
  • Perfectionism
  • Difficult emotions
  • Attachment insecurities
  • Feeling inferior

And recent research has found that CFT isn’t just about reducing difficulties or problems. Studies have found that CFT helps to increase wellbeing, positive emotions and of course, the three flows of compassion – compassion to others, compassion from others, and self-compassion.

How does CFT work?

Key to the research has been establishing it as an evidenced based therapy, but that the evidence is across multiple levels. There’s lots of ideas about this, including:

  • through the supportive and healing aspects of the therapeutic relationship, collaboration and human connection
  • by helping us to understand that the way our brains have evolved means they can be very ‘tricky’ to manage, as they easily get caught up in thinking-feeling ‘loops in the mind’
  • that we have been shaped by many things in life (e.g. our genes, our relationships, experiences and environments), many of which we had little control of
  • through bringing change to our three emotion systems, and in particular, by changing our experience with our threat system, giving us a more balanced and sustainable connection to the drive system and crucially, helping us to experience and use the soothing system
  • by helping us to improve the three flows of compassion – to others, from others and to ourselves
  • by reducing the fears, blocks and resistances of compassion
  • by reducing shame and self-criticism
  • by helping us to cultivate a new identity
  • by turning the compassionate mind towards common human difficulties

Interestingly, a variety of research studies have found that using the skills and practices in CMT also bring important changes to our brains and bodies, for example, through stimulating the vagus nerve. 

Taming Your Inner Critic Through Compassionate Letter Writing.

We’ll explore how the power of journalling can help us understand our inner critic and quieten the sometimes (or often) relentless voice of self-doubt. More importantly, it can help us cultivate a greater sense of self-compassion and confidence, a crucial aspect of our mental well-being that often gets overlooked.

Why Taming Your Inner Critic Matters

Our inner critic can be one of the harshest voices, constantly undermining our self-worth and sabotaging our efforts to feel good. It tells us we’re not good, smart, or capable enough to achieve our goals. But what if we could shift this narrative? What if we could learn to befriend our inner critic and cultivate an alternative voice, allowing growth rather than allowing the critic to hold us back?

Harnessing the Power of Journaling to shift the inner critic

Journalling provides a safe space to explore our thoughts, feelings, and inner dialogue. It allows us to shine a light on our inner critic, understand its origins, and develop strategies for responding to its criticisms with compassion and self-kindness. Through journalling, we can rewrite the script of our inner dialogue and cultivate a more nurturing relationship with ourselves.

Engaging in writing a compassionate letter of this nature produces a product. Your compassionate letter to your self-critique can be read repeatedly when you focus on beating yourself up.

 Here’s to embracing our inner strength, quieting the voice of self-doubt, and stepping into our full potential. This journey is about empowerment, about feeling confident in our abilities and inspired to reach our goals.

Exploring the relationship between the journalling and our health and wellbeing

In this blog, I want to share the science behind the relationship between journaling and mental health. I like to know the reasons why I’m doing something.

I often find this with my clients. As a counsellor, I can suggest that someone do something that will help their mental health. They may or may not choose to do this. However, if I explain to my clients whythat thing might benefit them, they are more likely to do it.

Humans are naturally curious, and it helps us understand the “why”.

We know that journalling and compassionate writing is good for us. But I want to share the details about the research-backed physical and mental health benefits that journalling and compassionate writing offer. Let’s uncover the science that makes putting pen to paper a transformative act of self-care.

The Mind-Body Connection: How Journalling Impacts Every Aspect of Us.

When we journal, we are not just transcribing thoughts onto paper; we are activating a number of physical and mental processes that work together to enhance our well-being.

Reducing Stress Hormones: Research has shown that expressive writing, where you articulate your thoughts and emotions, can lower the levels of stress hormones like cortisol. This reduction in stress hormones contributes to a calmer state of mind and improved overall health.

Strengthening Immune Function: Journalling can boost our immune system. Studies have demonstrated that regular journaling is associated with improved immune function, possibly due to reduced stress and improved emotional regulation.

Enhancing Emotional Regulation: Writing about our emotions can have profound effects on our emotional well-being. Externalising our feelings gives us clarity and distance, which supports better emotional regulation and mental resilience.

Improving Mood and Wellbeing: Research indicates that writing about positive experiences and expressing gratitude can elevate our mood and increase feelings of happiness. This positive focus rewires our brains to seek out joy and satisfaction. Enhancing our soothing system.

Journalling affects the physiology of the brain- creating new neural pathways which contribute towards improved mental well-being.

Compassionate Letter Writing

Have you ever written a letter to yourself? Not just any old letter, but a letter meant to heal, nurture, and boost your mental and emotional well-being? If not, you’re in for a treat! Compassionate letter writing is like a hug for your soul.

I have witnessed, personally and professionally, the power of compassionate letter writing.

The first time I wrote a compassionate letter was when I was a patient receiving compassion-focused therapy. I will always remember the experience, as it helped pave the way for my healing and enabled me to write many letters and share this skill with my clients. I write Compassionate letters when I’m having a difficult time. It’s very helpful and powerful.

What exactly is compassionate letter writing?  Well, it’s a practice where you write a letter to yourself. Think of it as a personal pep talk or a heart-to-heart with the most critical person in your life: you!

The Healing Power of Words

You might wonder, “Why should I write a letter to myself?” The answer is simple. Words have incredible power. They can heal wounds, calm storms, and spark joy. You’re channelling your inner therapist and friend when you put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard).

Dear Inner Child, Let’s Talk

One powerful form of Compassionate letter writing is addressing your “inner child.” That’s the younger version of yourself who may have experienced difficult or painful moments. Writing to this inner child can be incredibly healing because it allows you to connect with past emotions and offer the understanding and compassion that may have been lacking back then.

Letters of self-compassion.

This can be hard for some people, especially if they find it hard to be self-compassionate. However, like any skill, it needs to be developed, which takes practice.

Compassionate letter writing isn’t just about the words you write. It’s about the care you put into them. It’s a powerful tool for personal development and healing that anyone can use, regardless of writing skills.

In this series of blog posts, I will share more about how to write compassionate letters so you can add this tool to your toolkit.

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