The role of self-compassion, shame and guilt in 'emotional over-involvement'
Poster C59, Wednesday, October%2010, 11:30%20am%20-%201:00%20pm, Essex%20Ballroom
Bill Sellwood1, Kate Empson1; 1University of Lancaster
Familial expressed emotion (EE) has a well established association with outcomes in mental disorders. Although work on attributions has helped understand what drives some EE behaviours, an important component, emotional over-involvement, is not well understood. A number of small scale studies indicate the importance of shame and guilt in the maintenance of EOI; both factors targeted in compassion focussed therapies. Informal family carers (n = 72) were recruited via Twitter, carer groups and webpages. A cross-sectional design using self-report measures was used to examine the relationship between emotional over-involvement and guilt and shame, and to examine the potential moderating effect of self-compassion on this relationship. Multiple linear regressions revealed unique main effects of self-compassion, guilt and shame on EOI scores, but no significant moderating effects of self-compassion on the relationship between guilt and shame, and EOI. Methodological issues are discussed as well as implications for the refinement of family based interventions.
Topic Area: Psychosocial Interventions