Author:

Keywords:

Social Sciences, Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Psychology, Clinical, Psychiatry, Psychology, Self-Compassion Scale, Compassionate and uncompassionate self-responding, Psychopathology and stress, FOREST, Self-Compassion Scale; Compassionate and uncompassionate self-responding; Psychopathology and stress, 1103 Clinical Sciences, 1608 Sociology, 1701 Psychology, 5201 Applied and developmental psychology, 5203 Clinical and health psychology, 5205 Social and personality psychology

Abstract:

In a new commentary in Mindfulness, Neff once again tried to defend the use of the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) total score by arguing that compassionate and uncompassionate self-responding (CS and UCS) are part of a bipolar continuum. In this brief reaction, we refute this notion and also clarify how the continued use of the SCS total score muddies the water of research on self-compassion as a protective variable. We also illustrate how the SCS-by separating CS and UCS-can provide more valid and valuable information on protection and vulnerability within the context of psychopathology and stress than just relying on the total score of the SCS.