Abstract
Though the practice of mindfulness has been central to the world’s perennial wisdom traditions for thousands of years, the empirical study of mindfulness is relatively new to the field of behavioral science. Since the first studies were published in the early 1980s, research on mindfulness has grown exponentially. Similarly, since self-compassion was defined and operationalized with the 2003 publication of two articles by Kristin Neff, research on self-compassion has grown exponentially. While mindfulness and self-compassion have overlapping aspects, such as awareness and kindness, they remain separate constructs, both in how they are understood as states and traits and how they are routinely practiced. Each has distinct component parts and can be taught experientially. To ensure best practice, a thorough understanding of these two constructs is needed. The focus of this chapter is to illuminate where the practices of mindfulness and self-compassion diverge or intersect and how they can work in combination to support each other with the purpose of eliciting the greatest healing.
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Shapiro, S., Fitch, A. (2023). Self-Compassion and Mindfulness. In: Finlay-Jones, A., Bluth, K., Neff, K. (eds) Handbook of Self-Compassion. Mindfulness in Behavioral Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22348-8_2
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