Impact of a brief self-compassion intervention on state emotion dysregulation in self-reported generalized anxiety disorder

Abstract

Background and objectives

The current study examined emotion dysregulation and self-compassion as an intervention in individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms.

Methods

College students who met criteria for GAD according to questionnaires and non-anxious controls participated in an anxious mood induction. Subsequently, participants were randomized to a self-compassion or control intervention.

Results

Following the mood induction, the GAD group reported less self-compassion, more emotion dysregulation, more state anxiety, and more negative affect than the control group. In the intervention phase, for the self-compassion condition, all participants, irrespective of the presence or absence of GAD symptomatology, experienced a significant increase in state self-compassion and a significant decrease in state anxiety from pre-to post-intervention. Additionally, participants in the GAD group in the self-compassion condition also endorsed significantly less state emotion dysregulation and less negative affect. Participants in both groups assigned to the control intervention reported little change. Within the GAD group, the self-compassion manipulation produced more state self-compassion than the control intervention.

Limitations

Participants were undergraduate students; as a result, the findings might not generalize to individuals presenting for treatment of GAD. The demonstrated effects were on state measures following a brief writing intervention; additional research is needed to assess the impact of more extensive self-compassion interventions over a longer time frame.

Conclusions

The results align with theory and previous studies, revealing heightened emotion dysregulation among those with GAD symptoms. A self-compassion intervention led to significant improvements for both participants with GAD symptoms and those without.