Predictors and moderators of biopsychological social stress responses following brief self-compassion meditation training.
Psychoneuroendocrinology July 1, 2016 Joanna J Arch, Lauren N Landy, Kirk Warren Brown
Brief self-compassion meditation training dampens sympathetic and subjective anxiety responses to a social stress test. How well it works depends on certain baseline personality traits. People with lower non-attachment and higher social anxiety benefited less from the training, while those with lower social anxiety and lower non-attachment showed greater stress reduction. Trait self-compassion itself did not predict or moderate the training's effect. The findings highlight the importance of considering individual psychological traits in predicting responses to social evaluative threat, especially in the context of resiliency training.