A Review Study on Self-compassion and Its Place in Psychological Health

Background: Self-compassion is a construct of mental health that facilitates acceptance and understanding without judgment of difficult mental conditions. It is also effective in creating positive emotions and improving mental well-being. Objectives: The aim of this study is to review the concept of self-compassion in psychological health. Materials and Methods: In this review study, the international and Persian databases, such as MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library, SID, PubMed, and ProQuest were searched by “title search method”. Articles were surveyed without a time limit, using the keywords of “self-compassion” and “psychological health”. The articles containing inclusion criteria were separately selected, reviewed, and analyzed. To extract the data, the final articles included in the process of the study were extracted based on a premade checklist. Results: Out of 54 articles, 48 were excluded because of ignoring the relationship between the “self-compassion” and “psychological health”, as well as lacking a tool for controlling the psychological health and repetitiveness. Finally, 6 articles with the mentioned features were included in the study. Most review studies have shown that self-compassion increases psychological health and promotes well-being. Conclusion: As a positive construct, self-compassion includes self-kindness, social relationships, and mindfulness, and it is effective in promoting psychological health.