Unlocking the past: efficacy of guided self-compassion and benefit-focused online interventions for managing negative personal memories

ABSTRACT

Positive reappraisal strategies have been found to reduce negative affect following the recall of negative personal events. This study examined the restorative effect of two mood-repair instructions (self-compassion vs benefit-focused reappraisal) and a control condition with no instructions following a negative Mood Induction Procedure by using the guided recall of a negative autobiographical event. A total of 112 university students participated in the online study (81% women, Mage: 21.0 years). Immediately following the negative memory recall, participants were randomised to each condition [(self-compassion: n = 36, benefit-focused: n = 39) or a control condition (n = 37)]. Repeated measures ANOVAs 3 (Repair condition) × 3 (Time of mood assessment: pre-recall, post-recall, post-regulation) showed that, as expected, negative mood (sadness, shame, and guilt) worsened significantly after the guided recall in all groups (p < .001). After the mood-repair intervention, participants in the self-compassion and benefit-focused conditions showed a significant reduction in negative mood (p < .019), while such improvement was not observed in the control group. Self-compassion and benefit-focused reappraisal functioned similarly as mood repair strategies after experiencing negative affect induced by the recall of negative personal memories. Implications in the context of autobiographical memory biases are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Autobiographical memory
• mood induction
• self-compassion
• benefit-focused reappraisal
• online intervention

Acknowledgments

The authors give thanks to Ana Mar Pacheco and Claudia Cogollos for their help in revising the autobiographical memories recalled during the study. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Data repository

https://osf.io/qmwrv/?view_only=9bd482105dac4c90990378c7bc90544a.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Compliance of ethical standard statement

The study was approved by the University Ethics Committee, being conducted in compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

Informed consent

All participants gave their informed consent to participate in the survey.

Additional information

Funding

This research was partially supported by a grant from the Ministry of Science and Innovation [PID2019-108711GB-I00] to Carmelo Vazquez and a Spanish Ministry of Science predoctoral fellowship (Formación de Personal Investigador, PRE2020–092011) to Rosaria M. Zangri. Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.