The Attachment-Based Compassion Therapy

This book is a manual for self-application of the Attachment-Based Compassion Therapy (ABCT) protocol, that can be either self-applied by any individual in a psychoeducational context or as a support for a therapeutic process guided by a professional. Compassion therapy is a third-generation psychotherapy that has been used in association with mindfulness in recent years. In particular, attachment-based compassion therapy (ABCT) is a protocol that can be used in both the general and psychiatric population with the aim of promoting compassion and self-compassion.

ABCT is based on attachment theory and, therefore, includes practices to raise awareness and/or address maladaptive aspects, where appropriate, of the attachment styles developed with parents. This process is taught as a form of both compassion and self-compassion in order to improve present-day interpersonal relationships and well-being in general. In the face-to-face group format, ABCT has been demonstrating efficacy and applicability for healthy people and for the treatment of fibromyalgia, depression, anxiety and adjustment disorders. This book presents a self-applied version of ABCT that operates along the lines of the original model and has been adapted and developed to be fully self-applied via the Internet in 8 sequential modules:

• Introduction to attachment-based compassion therapy
• Preparing ourselves for compassion: kind attention
• Discovering our compassionate world
• Developing our compassionate world
• Understanding our relationship with compassion
• Working on ourselves
• Understanding the importance of forgiveness
• Consolidating the practice of compassion

The content is presented through texts, pictures, tables and figures, including links to downloadable audio files for formal meditation practices with specific guides and instruction for each meditation. The transcripts to each guided meditation are also included as appendices.