A conversation with:
Paul Gilbert

Compassion-focused therapy (CFT) was founded by Paul Gilbert (2000) in response to the understanding that many people, especially those who suffer from shame and self-criticism, have difficulty finding within themselves kind and self-supporting self-states when they are under traditional therapy. Indeed, these patients could work with cognitive and behavioral homework,  but they still did not improve enough 2009). Compassion-focused therapy employs a meaning of compassion anchored in Buddhist tradition and the Dalai Lama's thought which defines compassion as 'a sensitivity to suffering in self and others, with a commitment to try to alleviate and prevent it'.

Gilbert initially developed to help those individuals create affiliative feelings towards themselves and to help them develop a more compassionate inner voice. CFT was based upon a growing body of neuroscientific evidence that demonstrated that affiliative motives and emotions could greatly impact self and affect regulation. CFT aims to help such individuals respond to self-criticism with self-kindness and compassion, with the goal of treatment being to improve psychological well-being. A key part of this process is to help the individual understand that many cognitive biases/distortions are built-in biological processes, constructed by genetics and the environment. CFT encourages individuals to develop compassion motivation and practice compassionate behaviors to access the soothing systems.

In this conversation, Aner Govrin and Sharon Ziv-Beiman will discuss with Paul Gilbert what is unique about CFT compared with other psychotherapies? What is Compassionate Mind Training (CMT)? What theories, principles, and techniques from various psychology schools, are incorporated within CFT? How can  CFT be helpful for depressed people? How can it be used to reduce shame and self-criticism, and how can people be trained to develop self-compassion and compassion toward others?