Compassion-focused therapy groups for people with intellectual disabilities: An extended pilot study

People with intellectual disabilities who experience mental health difficulties often have high levels of self-criticism and shame. Compassion-focused therapy is a therapeutic modality effective in working with such feelings. This article follows on from a previous compassion-focused therapy group study exploring the impact of two compassion-focused therapy-based groups on how participants felt about themselves. Utilizing a mixed method design, the study illustrated that participants experienced higher levels of compassion and, overall, saw themselves more favourably by the end of the groups. They were also able to understand the basic concepts of compassion-focused therapy which reinforced previous study findings, suggesting that it is adaptable and clinically useful for people with intellectual disabilities.