Self-Compassion Buffers the Adverse Mental Health Impacts of COVID-19-Related Threats: Results From a Cross-Sectional Survey at the First Peak of Hong Kong's Outbreak

• Main Authors: Bobo Hi-Po Lau, Cecilia Lai-Wan Chan, Siu-Man Ng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-11-01
• Series: Frontiers in Psychiatry
• Subjects: self-compassion; mental health; perceived benefit; COVID-19; Hong Kong; self-coldness
• Online Access: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.585270/full

COVID-19 has brought tremendous and abrupt threats to various aspects of our daily lives, from school and work to interpersonal relationships. Self-compassion is put forth as a salutogenic perspective on oneself that buffers the adverse mental health impacts of these threats. During the peak of a local outbreak in Hong Kong in Spring 2020, 761 participants completed questionnaires on self-compassion, perceived threats, as well as perceived benefits and psychological distress. Controlling for demographic variables, negative indicators of self-compassion (aka self-coldness) was found to intensify the impacts of threats on psychological distress. The positive indicators of self-compassion also moderated the link between threats and perceived benefits, such that perceived benefits tend to be less related to threats in participants with higher self-compassion. Our findings highlight the impacts of both positive and negative indicators of self-compassion on the adjustment to such unprecedented challenges, and point to the possibility of enhancing people's resilience through fostering self-compassion and alleviating self-coldness.