ReviewFrontiers in psychology2020
Compassion: From Its Evolution to a Psychotherapy.
Review in Frontiers in psychology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 98 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Mindful Compassion for Perfectionism: A Waiting-list Randomized Controlled Trial
Body-oriented Psychotherapy vs. Psychoeducation and Treatment Information for Individuals With a History of Child Maltreatment and Trauma-related Symptoms: Assessing Safety, Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Outcomes
Who cites it
98 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Compassion for others and well-being: a meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2025Pooled it
- The Mechanisms Underlying the Relationship Between Self-Compassion and Psychological Outcomes in Adult Populations: A Systematic Review.Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress · 2025Pooled it
- The Use and Outcomes of Compassion-Focused Group Interventions With Children and Adolescent Clinical Populations: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis.Clinical psychology & psychotherapyPooled it
- Internet Attachment-Based Compassion Therapy for Adults With Chronic Medical Conditions: Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Trial
- Compassionate self-talk enhances autonomic flexibility during cognitive stress in generalized anxiety disorder: a randomized controlled trial with HRV evidence.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Trial
- A randomized controlled feasibility trial of online compassion-focused self-help for psoriasis.The British journal of dermatology · 2022Trial
- Trial
- Vicarious trauma and burnout: the role of self-compassion.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Article
- Compassion-Focused Therapy for Mothers of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Impact on Parental Burnout, Self-Criticism, and Psychological Distress.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Addressing Existential Distress Through Compassion: Feasibility and Preliminary Effects of Compassion With You (COMwithU), a Compassion-Based Intervention for Patients With Cancer.Psycho-oncology · 2026Article
- Initial Psychometric Evaluation of the Social Safeness and Pleasure Scale Japanese Version.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- 'I'm willing to walk into violence': The impact of personal trauma on staff compassion in secure services.Psychology and psychotherapy · 2026Article
- Mindfulness on the Palm of Your Hand: A Systematic Review of Mobile Mindfulness Apps and Their Effects on Well-Being, Compassion, and Aggression in Non-Clinical Adults.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Sociodemographic and psychosocial correlates of self-compassion in adolescents with physical health conditions.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2026Article
- From Aversive, Toward Appetitive: A Behavioral Conceptual Analysis of Compassion.Behavior analysis in practice · 2026Article
- Empathy and Compassion as the Radical Behaviorist Views it: A Conceptual Analysis.Behavior analysis in practice · 2026Article
- A protocol for a systematic review of the psychosocial effects of experiencing compassion from others and its interpretation through secular and religious frameworks.Systematic reviews · 2026Article
- Longitudinal neural and psychological changes following psilocybin under compassion imagery priming.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Article
38 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The concept, benefits and recommendations for the cultivation of compassion have been recognized in the contemplative traditions for thousands of years. In the last 30 years or so, the study of compassion has revealed it to have major physiological and psychological effects influencing well-being, addressing mental health difficulties, and promoting prosocial behavior. This paper outlines an evolution informed biopsychosocial, multicomponent model to caring behavior and its derivative "compassion" that underpins newer approaches to psychotherapy. The paper explores the origins of caring motives and the nature and biopsychosocial functions of caring-attachment behavior. These include providing a secure base (sources of protection, validation, encouragement and guidance) and safe haven (source of soothing and comfort) for offspring along with physiological regulating functions, which are also central for compassion focused therapy. Second, it suggests that it is the way recent human cognitive competencies give rise to different types of "mind awareness" and "knowing intentionality" that transform basic caring motives into potentials for compassion. While we can care for our gardens and treasured objects, the concept of compassion is only used for sentient beings who can "suffer." As psychotherapy addresses mental suffering, cultivating the motives and competencies of compassion to self and others can be a central focus for psychotherapy.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.