Self-compassion in eating disorders and childhood trauma: A study of within-person effects in a randomized controlled trial

Background Patients with eating disorders and childhood trauma have clinical presentations that make them less suitable for standard eating disorder treatment. This might be due to high levels of shame and self-criticism. Self-compassion can be a mechanism of change, especially for patients with eating disorders and childhood trauma.Method A total of 130 patients with or without childhood trauma were admitted to 13 weeks of inpatient treatment and randomized to either compassion-focused therapy or cognitive-behavioral therapy. Self-compassion and eating disorder symptoms were measured every week. The data were analyzed for within-person effects using multilevel modeling.Results We did not find a within-person effect of self-compassion on eating disorder symptoms. Rather, the analysis indicated that eating disorder symptoms predict self-compassion in the overall sample. However, we found a stronger within-person relationship between self-compassion and eating disorder symptoms in patients with trauma receiving compassion-focused therapy compared to the remaining patients in the study.Conclusion Overall, eating disorder symptoms predicted subsequent self-compassion at a within-person level. Patients with trauma in compassion-focused therapy demonstrated a stronger relationship between self-compassion and eating disorder symptoms. More studies with a cross-lagged design are needed to further illuminate self-compassion as a mechanism of change for these patients.