Does Cultivating Self-compassion Improve Resilience to Criticism and Improve Mental Health in Adults With ADHD?

University of Sheffield

Status: Active, not recruiting

Conditions: Wellbeing; Self-Criticism; Self-compassion; Depression; Anxiety; ADHD; Stress

Treatments: Behavioral: Active Control; Behavioral: Online self-compassion intervention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04978792

172839

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study aims to investigate the effect that increasing levels of self-compassion may have on levels of perceived criticism, self-criticism, and mental health of adults with ADHD. A secondary aim of the study is to capture how feasible using an online self-guided self-compassion practice maybe with people with ADHD.

Research Questions

1. Does a short self-guided self-compassion intervention increase levels of state and/or trait self-compassion in adults with ADHD over time?
2. Are changes in state and/or trait self-compassion associated with changes in levels of self-criticism or perceived criticism?
3. Are changes in state and/or trait self-compassion associated with improvements in mental health?
4. Are changes in mental health mediated by changes in self-criticism or perceived criticism?

Enrollment: 114 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Self-report a formal diagnosis of ADHD
• Scores on the Adult ADHD Self Report Questionnaire (ASRS) meet the clinical cut-off.
• No previous engagement with self-compassion interventions/practice

Exclusion criteria

• No previous experiences of trauma.
• No PTSD
• No personality disorder

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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114 participants in 2 patient groups

Self-compassion Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

The intervention will include 14 self-compassion exercises completed over a 3-week period. The intervention will include methods of psychoeducation, meditation, and self-compassion exercises similar to Beshai et al.'s (2020) self-compassion-based intervention. The psychoeducation will focus on self-compassion, the meditations will be kindness and loving meditations and self-compassion breaks. The self-compassion exercises will be based on the writing exercises available on Neff's self-compassion website.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Online self-compassion intervention

Control Group

Active Comparator group

Description:

The active control will also include 14 exercises completed over a 3-week period. The 14 exercises will comprise of a psychoeducation video, writing exercises, video/audio-guided relaxation, and journal entries. The same psychoeducation video used in the intervention will be shown to participants, however, the other exercises will be altered to focus on factual information and not focused on self-compassion. The exercises will be matched to the self-compassion exercise so that similar exercises are completed in parallel time with the intervention.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Active Control