ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on research concerning the relationship between mindfulness, compassion and health and studies of compassion-focused interventions in healthy subjects and in therapeutic settings. The different contributions of mindfulness and self-compassion cannot be separated because mindfulness itself, as the ability to mindfully acknowledge our pain and suffering, is a component of the self-compassion scale. The other two components of the scale are common humanity and self-kindness. In general, self-compassion seems to be associated with beneficial exposure to painful emotions and thoughts; having self-compassion makes it easier to be exposed to the inevitable forms of pain and suffering in our lives. Research with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has become increasingly sophisticated, and recent data show that the practice of mindful or focused attention affects other brain regions than the practice of compassion or loving-kindness, which particularly affects areas relating to the experience of positive emotions and emotional processing when faced with distress.
