How Can Gestalt-Integrated Group Help Strengthen Your Self-Compassion?

Abstract

Self-compassion is the ability to direct kindness towards oneself. Gestalt therapy benefits from self-compassion so that clients re- enact and confront their emotional problems more gently. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of the Gestalt Integrated Self- Compassion Development Program among university students. This quasi-experimental study used a pre-test, post-test design with a control group. This study was conducted on 20 undergraduate students with different levels of self-compassion. The research population has been selected with a convenient sampling technique and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups (n=10 in each group). The Gestalt Integrated Self-Compassion Development Program was applied to the experimental group in the context of 8-session- group counseling, while the control group was not involved in any intervention. The obtained data were analyzed with the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks and Mann-Whitney U tests. The findings indicated that The Gestalt Integrated Self-Compassion Development Program is a helpful intervention to increase university students’ self-compassion. However, more extensive studies are required to be carried out with different groups.