Compassion-focused therapy is an integrative psychotherapy approach. In its theoretical model, it views various psychological problems as imbalances in our emotion regulation systems.

It does not focus on diagnosing or categorising, but on understanding, mapping and healing the common emotion regulation deficits that lie beneath the various diagnostic categories.

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"In compassion-focused therapy, the therapist's role is to help the client experience safety in the therapeutic relationship, in confronting the issues explored in therapy, and to replace harsh self-criticism with kindness toward self."

Paul Gilbert is the founder of compassion-focused therapy

 

 

This quote illustrates the basic truth presented in my article on the philosophical background of integrative psychotherapies: the theoretical models of each psychotherapeutic movement are not an exclusive, all-encompassing meta-model with absolute truth, but a possible way of using the body of knowledge accumulated in the various therapeutic movements to gain insight into the psychotherapeutic process. They are not exclusive, yet they are necessary because they are concrete ways of understanding.

This is what Paul Gilbert's model aims to be.

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In order to be considered a psychotherapeutic movement, a movement must, among other things, have a model describing mental processes and, on the basis of this model, develop a specific method for treating psychological disorders.

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In compassion-focused therapy, three emotion regulation systems are distinguished.

The emotions regulated by the defensive system (red system), anxiety, sadness and anger, are responsible for defensive responses in emergency situations. 

The emotions regulated by the resource-seeking system (blue system), excitement, excitement, joy, give us the strength and drive to achieve our goals.

The emotions regulated by the calming system (green system), a sense of security, calmness, gratitude, love, play an important role in creating our psychological balance and in our human relationships.

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The Compassion Focused Therapy model describes psychological disorders as different patterns of imbalance in emotion regulation systems and aims to restore the balance between them as the focus of intervention. Knowledge of evolutionary psychology and neuropsychology has been important in the development of this model.
During evolution, the mammalian brain has evolved so that the green system can regulate the red system. One reason for this is that mammalian babies are born helpless and their survival depends on their parents caring for them over a long period of time. This care requires physical closeness, which requires the mammalian parent to be able to regulate the fight-or-flight response. As a consequence, the activation of the caring system can also reduce the intensity of unpleasant feelings.

Human compassion evolved from the mammalian caring system. In humans, this system is not limited to caring for our own offspring, but becomes universal, including caring for ourselves. Compassion activates the green system through its relationship with the caring system.
In the model of Compassion Focused Therapy, psychological disorders are explained by an imbalance between emotion regulation systems. When the red system is predominant, emotions of anxiety and sadness dominate and depressive or anxiety disorders can develop. The blue system is predominant in manic, addictive and narcissistic disorders. In obsessive-compulsive disorders, there is an overactivity of both the red and blue emotion regulation systems.
Since underfunctioning of the green system is a common feature of all psychological disorders, the main intervention point in Compassion-Focused Therapy is the development of this system. The main aim is to train the green system through compassion exercises, which will then automatically regulate the red and blue systems. The central tool of this therapy is Compassionate Mind Training, where the (self-)compassion skills of the participants are developed through various exercises.

The training is also used outside psychotherapy. The main difference between training and therapy is that, in addition to compassion practices, the essential elements of therapy are: the therapeutic relationship/alliance, contracting, assessment, case formulation, setting the therapeutic goal, and developing an intervention plan. Compassion is not therapy in itself, but it is therapeutic. And in the Compassion-focused therapeutic orientation, it greatly increases the effectiveness of therapy when integrated into the essential elements of psychotherapies. It proves to be the "philosopher's stone" that personalizes and accommodates all the therapeutic elements and tools that have been developed with the intention of healing over the decades of psychotherapies' history.