Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) is a form of psychotherapy that integrates principles from evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), focusing specifically on the role of empathy in emotional regulation and mental well-being. British psychologist Paul Gilbert developed CFT therapy techniques, and it is designed to help individuals who struggle with high levels of shame, self-criticism, and difficulties with self-empathy. This post seeks to answer the question, “What is compassion focused therapy?” and how does it work, but please feel free to contact me or schedule a consultation anytime if you want more specific information.
What Is Compassion Focused Therapy?
- Evolutionary Basis: CFT therapy techniques are based on the idea that our brains have evolved to manage survival and social relationships and that emotions like fear, shame, and anger are normal responses to perceived threats.
- Three Emotion Regulation Systems: CFT therapy proposes that humans have three primary systems that regulate emotions:
- Threat Protection System: This system focuses on detecting and responding to danger, often triggering fear, anger, or anxiety.
- Drive/Excitement System: This system motivates us toward goals, achievements, and rewards and is linked to feelings of pleasure.
- Soothing System: Helps us feel safe, content, and cared for. It is linked to self-empathy and empathy for others.
In many people, the threat system is overactive, while the soothing system is underdeveloped, leading to excessive anxiety, shame, or self-criticism.]
- The Role of Compassion: This wonderful emotion motivates one to care for oneself and others to alleviate suffering. Using CFT therapy techniques, you are encouraged to develop compassion for yourself and others to balance the emotional systems and reduce distress.
- Self-Compassion Exercises: Compassion Focused Therapy techniques involve imagery, breathing exercises, and mindful attention to foster a sense of warmth, safety, and kindness toward oneself. These CFT therapy techniques help cultivate the soothing system, which can regulate negative emotions.
Who Can Benefit from CFT Therapy?
Compassion Focused Therapy techniques are particularly helpful for people who:
- Struggle with self-criticism or feelings of inadequacy.
- Have experienced trauma or complex emotional distress.
- Suffer from depression, anxiety, eating disorders, or personality disorders.
- Feel disconnected from others or have difficulty developing self-empathy.
Compassion Focused Therapy Techniques in Brief
- Mindful awareness: Cultivating a non-judgmental awareness of one’s thoughts and feelings.
- Imagery: Visualization exercises that foster a sense of care and safety.
- Letter writing: Writing letters to oneself from an empathic perspective.
- Soothing rhythm breathing: Breathing exercises designed to stimulate the soothing system.
Overall, Compassion Focused Therapy techniques aim to help individuals learn to be more empathy toward themselves and others, leading to a greater sense of emotional balance and well-being.
CFT Therapy Techniques
Compassion Focused Therapy techniques are designed to help individuals develop self-compassion, regulate emotions, and reduce self-criticism. Below are some key CFT therapy techniques I use:
1. Compassionate Mind Training (CMT)
CMT is central to CFT therapy and involves exercises that help individuals develop compassionate thinking and behavior. This helps balance the three emotion regulation systems (threat, drive, and soothing systems) and fosters a sense of safety and calm. Techniques include:
- Soothing Rhythm Breathing: A breathing exercise that encourages slow, rhythmic breathing to activate the soothing system. It helps regulate emotions and create a sense of calm and safety.
- Imagery: Guided visualizations that evoke feelings of warmth, and care. You might imagine yourself in a safe place or a caring figure offering you kindness and support.
2. CFT Therapy and Self-Talk
This technique helps you become aware of your internal self-critical dialogue and replace it with more care and understanding self-talk. This self-talk teaches you to respond to your needs with kindness rather than harsh criticism.
3. Letter Writing
Writing a letter to oneself from a caring and non-judgmental perspective helps individuals practice self-empathy. The letter may address personal difficulties, mistakes, or feelings of shame but in a tone of warmth and support. This exercise can help soften self-criticism and build emotional resilience.
4. Focused Therapy Imagery
In Compassion Focused Therapy imagery exercises, you visualize yourself or others in an empathic and supportive manner. This might involve imagining:
- A figure offering care and support.
- A time when they felt truly loved and cared for.
- Offering assistance to someone else who is suffering.
These visualizations help activate the soothing system and create positive emotional experiences associated with empathy.
5. Caring Attention
Caring attention involves focusing attention on areas of life that evoke kindness. It encourages you to notice caring acts from others, moments of kindness they show to yourself, and situations where you feel cared for.
6. Focus on Emotions
This technique helps you approach difficult emotions (e.g., shame, anger, anxiety) with compassion. Rather than avoiding or suppressing negative emotions, you learn to be present with their feelings and respond to them with understanding and kindness.
7. Compassion Focused Therapy Chair Work (or Two-Chair Dialogue)
You are asked to sit in different chairs and act out different parts of yourself. For example, one chair may represent the critical self, and another may represent the caring self. This dialogue helps you develop a more compassionate response to self-criticism.
8. CFT Therapy Affiliative Focusing
Compassion focused therapy techniques emphasize building affiliative emotions—feelings of connection and warmth. Affiliative focusing involves practices that help you experience these emotions, such as reflecting on moments of kindness from others or engaging in mindfulness exercises that evoke a sense of connection with others.
9. Developing a Compassionate Self-Identity
You are encouraged to cultivate a caring self, a part of you that is kind, understanding, and supportive. This self is developed through exercises such as:
- Imagining what it would be like to be the most caring version of oneself.
- Embodying the qualities of this self in daily life.
10. Mindfulness and Self-Awareness
This is one of the compassion focused therapy techniques that integrates mindfulness techniques. Mindfulness involves being present with one’s thoughts and feelings without judgment. Mindfulness helps individuals recognize and accept their emotional experiences while fostering a caring response to those experiences.
11. Compassion Focused Therapy Behavior Activation
This technique encourages you to act in ways that align with caring values, such as self-care, helping others, or practicing kindness. Acting in these ways can reinforce the development of deep caring both toward oneself and others.
12. Understanding and Rebalancing the Emotional Systems
In compassion focused therapy, you learn about the three major emotion regulation systems:
- Threat System (linked to fear, anxiety, and self-criticism).
- Drive System (associated with achievement and reward-seeking behavior).
- Soothing System (associated with feelings of calm, safety, and contentment).
Many CFT Therapy techniques focus on reducing the dominance of the threat system and strengthening the soothing system through caring practices.
13. Imagery of Caring Others
You may be guided to imagine receiving empathy from an ideal figure—someone who embodies wisdom, warmth, and strength. This figure could be real, imaginary, or symbolic. The exercise is designed to help you feel supported and cared for, especially in difficult moments.
14. Self-Care Breaks
In moments of distress, you are encouraged to take a “self-care break” by:
- Acknowledging your pain (“This is a moment of suffering”).
- Recognizing suffering is a common human experience (“I’m not alone in this”).
- Offering yourself kindness (“May I be kind to myself in this moment”).
These CFT therapy techniques aim to create a safe, caring internal environment that encourages emotional regulation, reduces self-criticism, and fosters mental well-being.
What is Compassion Focused Therapy Like?
Here’s a fictitious example of how compassion focused therapy techniques might be used in my practice, particularly for someone struggling with self-criticism and shame.
Sarah’s Background:
Sarah is a 30-year-old woman who frequently experiences intense self-criticism, particularly when she makes mistakes at work or in social situations. She feels overwhelmed by guilt and shame, believing that she is “never good enough.” As a result, Sarah often feels anxious and withdraws from others when she feels she’s failed or let them down.
Initial CFT Therapy Session:
1. Identifying the Problem
I begin by discussing Sarah’s feelings of self-criticism and shame. Sarah explains how she often feels worthless and believes she is constantly letting others down.
2. Psychoeducation about Emotional Systems
I introduce the idea of the three emotional regulation systems that CFT therapy is based on:
- Threat System: Activated when Sarah feels anxious or scared of being judged or failing.
- Drive System: When she’s working hard to achieve goals, often trying to prove herself.
- Soothing System: Where compassion, calm, and safety reside—but Sarah finds it difficult to access this system.
I explain that Sarah’s threat system is overactive, especially when she makes mistakes, and that CFT therapy techniques will help her strengthen her soothing system by cultivating self-compassion.
3. Soothing Rhythm Breathing
To help Sarah regulate her emotional state, I introduce her to soothing rhythm breathing.
- Sarah is encouraged to take slow, steady breaths, focusing on the rhythm of her breathing.
- I explain how this can activate the soothing system, creating feelings of calm and safety.
Sarah notices that even after a few minutes of slow, mindful breathing, she feels a bit more grounded and less tense.
Middle CFT Therapy Sessions:
After the initial sessions, we move into developing Sarah’s CFT Therapy Techniques toolkit:
4. Recognizing Self-Criticism
In subsequent sessions, I help Sarah become more aware of her inner critical voice. We explore how this self-critical part of Sarah is rooted in her fear of failure and her belief that she must be perfect to be accepted.
5. Compassionate Imagery
I guide Sarah through an imagery exercise:
- Sarah closes her eyes and is asked to imagine a caring figure—someone or something that embodies warmth, strength, and understanding. This figure could be real or imaginary, and it is entirely non-judgmental and supportive.
- Sarah imagines this figure speaking kindly to her, offering words of encouragement like, “It’s okay to make mistakes. You are worthy of love and kindness, no matter what.”
After this exercise, Sarah feels emotional but more comforted, as if she has an internal ally to turn to when she feels vulnerable.
6. Challenging Self-Critical Thoughts
I then help Sarah challenge some of her self-critical thoughts:
- When Sarah says, “I’m such a failure because I messed up that project,” I encourage her to reframe the thought through an empathic lens. She practices saying, “I made a mistake, but that doesn’t define me. I’m learning and trying my best.”
- This helps Sarah recognize that she can be imperfect and still deserving of kindness.
7. Compassionate Letter Writing
As homework, I ask Sarah to write a caring letter to herself. In this letter, Sarah writes from the perspective of her empathic figure, responding to her current struggles with understanding and kindness. Sarah might write something like:
- “I know you’re feeling down about your performance at work, but it’s okay to make mistakes. You’re still learning, and you’re doing the best you can. I’m proud of you for showing up, even when things are tough.”
This exercise helps Sarah internalize that care and recognize that she can be supportive toward herself, just as she would be to a friend in a similar situation. Many compassion focused therapy techniques use this third person approach.
CFT Therapy Techniques in Later Sessions:
As Sarah begins to improve, we work on more advanced compassion focused therapy techniques:
8. Behavior Activation
I encourage Sarah to engage in behaviors that align with caring toward herself. We create a plan where Sarah practices self-care:
- Setting boundaries at work to avoid burnout.
- Engaging in activities that bring her joy, like reading and spending time with friends.
- Taking breaks when she feels overwhelmed, without guilt.
9. Mindful Self-Care Breaks
Whenever Sarah starts to feel overwhelmed by shame or criticism, I teach her to take a self-compassion break:
- Acknowledge the pain: “This is a hard moment.”
- Remember common humanity: “Other people feel this way too; I’m not alone in this.”
- Offer herself kindness: “May I be kind to myself right now.”
Over time, Sarah learns to respond to her inner struggles with less harshness and more self-care, helping her regulate her emotions better.
Compassion Focused Therapy Outcome:
After several months of CFT therapy techniques, Sarah feels more equipped to manage her self-critical thoughts. She no longer avoids situations out of fear of failure and can face challenges with greater self-compassion. Her shame and anxiety have significantly reduced, and she feels more connected to others, having learned that everyone experiences difficulty and that being kind to herself in those moments is a strength, not a weakness.
This example helps answer the question, What is compassion focused therapy?” by showing how it helps individuals like Sarah replace self-criticism with self-compassion, enabling them to develop emotional resilience and healthier relationships with themselves.
Summary and My Work
CFT Therapy techniques are part of the Third-wave of CBT along with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Gestalt approaches, and others. In my integrative practice, I provide Compassion focused therapy techniques, often mixed with similar methods for a unique and powerful treatment approach for each client. This post was designed to generally answer the question, “What is compassion focused therapy?” but please feel free to contact me or schedule a consultation anytime if you want more specific information about how it might work for you.
