NCT05698589

COMpassion for Psychiatric Disorders And Self-Stigma

Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) for the Reduction of the Internalized Stigma of Mental Disorders: a Multi-center, Prospective, Randomized, Controlled Study

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 336 (estimated)
• Sponsor: University Hospital, Strasbourg, France · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

People with mental disorders face frequent stigmatizing attitudes and behaviors from others . In response to this, they tend to isolate themselves, with the risk of impeding care and the process of recovery and integration into society . Stigmatization can also be assimilated by patients themselves - i.e. self-stigma. Self-stigma is involved in diminished coping skills that lead to social avoidance and difficulties in adhering to care . Reducing self-stigma and its emotional corollary, shame, is thus crucial to attenuate the disability associated with mental illness. Shame is inherent to self-stigma and leads to difficulties in adhering to care as well as greater severity of clinical presentations . Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) is a third wave cognitive behavioral therapy that targets shame reduction and hostile self-to-self relationship and allows for symptom improvement while increasing self-compassion, a major resilience factor . Although shame is a prominent part of the concept of self-stigma, the efficacy of CFT has never been evaluated in individuals with high levels of self-stigma. In this study, the investigators will evaluate the efficacy and acceptability of a group based CFT program on decreasing self-stigma, compared to treatment as usual (TAU) and a psychoeducation program whose efficacy has been assessed in a previous trial.

Conditions

• Bipolar Disorder
• Schizophrenia
• Depression
• Borderline Personality Disorder
• Autism Spectrum Disorder

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Compassion Focused Therapy	CFT is an experiential therapy. As such, in addition to psychoeducation components (e.g.: compassion from an evolutionary and neuroscientific perspective, the tricky brain problem, emotion regulation systems) and explicit learning of emotion regulation skills (in particular, shame), experiential exercises are provided in-sessions (e.g. : chair work, role plays, guided mental imagery, …) and between sessions practices will be provided with video guides, made available for the participants online (e.g. : soothing rhythm breathing, safe place imagery, compassionate self-imagery, …). The overall aim of the CFT program is to help participants shift from a hostile and critical self-to-self relationship to a more compassionate relationship to self.
BEHAVIORAL	Ending Self Stigma	Psychoeducation sessions cover topics such as the path from public stigma to self-stigma and modifying self-stigmatizing thoughts. Participants will be encouraged to do home practices (e.g. writing about the pros and cons of self-stigmatizing thoughts) between sessions. The overall aim of the ESS program is to help participants address self-stigma with concrete tools to increase their self-esteem and achieve their goals

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-04-03
• Primary completion: 2028-03-01
• Completion: 2028-03-01
• First posted: 2023-01-26
• Last updated: 2025-08-06

Locations

7 sites across 1 country: France