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Compassion-focused therapy with autistic adults

Some autistic adults experience repeated adverse events, including rejection, victimization and stigmatization. They also describe others being critical and negatively judging them, such as for how they socially interact or for expressing passion for particular interests. The impact of these adverse...

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Autores principales: Mason, David, Acland, James, Stark, Eloise, Happé, Francesca, Spain, Debbie
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10641016/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37965655
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1267968
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author Mason, David
Acland, James
Stark, Eloise
Happé, Francesca
Spain, Debbie
author_facet Mason, David
Acland, James
Stark, Eloise
Happé, Francesca
Spain, Debbie
author_sort Mason, David
collection PubMed
description Some autistic adults experience repeated adverse events, including rejection, victimization and stigmatization. They also describe others being critical and negatively judging them, such as for how they socially interact or for expressing passion for particular interests. The impact of these adverse events can be substantial, including increasing vulnerability for poorer mental health, and contributing to development of negative self beliefs (such as “I am different” or “I do not fit in”) and shame-based difficulties. Not all evidence-based psychological therapies are well-received by autistic people, or effective. Given high rates of self-harm and suicidality, finding acceptable and effective therapies for autistic adults is paramount. Here, writing as autistic and non-autistic clinicians and researchers, we outline the theoretical principles of compassion-focused theory and therapy (CFT). We propose that: (1) compassion-focused theory can provide a useful framework for conceptualizing shame-based difficulties some autistic adults experience; (2) CFT can be appropriate for addressing these; and (3) there is an impetus for practitioners to adopt compassion-focused approaches when supporting autistic adults.
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spelling pubmed-106410162023-11-14 Compassion-focused therapy with autistic adults Mason, David Acland, James Stark, Eloise Happé, Francesca Spain, Debbie Front Psychol Psychology Some autistic adults experience repeated adverse events, including rejection, victimization and stigmatization. They also describe others being critical and negatively judging them, such as for how they socially interact or for expressing passion for particular interests. The impact of these adverse events can be substantial, including increasing vulnerability for poorer mental health, and contributing to development of negative self beliefs (such as “I am different” or “I do not fit in”) and shame-based difficulties. Not all evidence-based psychological therapies are well-received by autistic people, or effective. Given high rates of self-harm and suicidality, finding acceptable and effective therapies for autistic adults is paramount. Here, writing as autistic and non-autistic clinicians and researchers, we outline the theoretical principles of compassion-focused theory and therapy (CFT). We propose that: (1) compassion-focused theory can provide a useful framework for conceptualizing shame-based difficulties some autistic adults experience; (2) CFT can be appropriate for addressing these; and (3) there is an impetus for practitioners to adopt compassion-focused approaches when supporting autistic adults. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-10-26 /pmc/articles/PMC10641016/ /pubmed/37965655 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1267968 Text en Copyright © 2023 Mason, Acland, Stark, Happé and Spain. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Mason, David
Acland, James
Stark, Eloise
Happé, Francesca
Spain, Debbie
Compassion-focused therapy with autistic adults
title Compassion-focused therapy with autistic adults
title_full Compassion-focused therapy with autistic adults
title_fullStr Compassion-focused therapy with autistic adults
title_full_unstemmed Compassion-focused therapy with autistic adults
title_short Compassion-focused therapy with autistic adults
title_sort compassion-focused therapy with autistic adults
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10641016/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37965655
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1267968
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