Exploring the ability of individuals with an intellectual disability to generate and use a compassionate image

Brougham, Laura (2018) Exploring the ability of individuals with an intellectual disability to generate and use a compassionate image. D Clin Psy thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Background:
There is a growing interest in adapting 3rd wave therapies such as Mindfulness for use with people who have Intellectual Disabilities. This study will consider the adaptation of Compassion Focused Therapy and aim to explore the ability of individuals with an intellectual disability to generate and use a compassionate image.

Method:
The cohort for this exploratory study consisted of nineteen people with an intellectual disability and twenty people without. Participants were recruited from colleges of further education. A technique from Compassion Focused Therapy was specifically adapted for this study to assess if individuals with intellectual disabilities could generate a compassionate image. A vignette based approach was used to help participants imagine that they were in a distressing situation, then they were encouraged to use their compassionate image to generate compassionate self-talk.

Results:
Participants with intellectual disabilities were able to generate their own compassionate image through the use of prompts. Furthermore, when they were asked to imagine themselves in a distressing situation they could use this image to generate compassionate self-talk as a means of self-soothing.

Conclusions:
This study found that individuals with intellectual disabilities were able to understand the rationale of this task and engaged meaningfully. The result warrants further studies to explore the use of Compassion Focused Therapy with this client group.

• Item Type: Thesis (D Clin Psy)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Keywords: Intellectual disability, compassionate focused therapy, mental health, psychological therapies.
• Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
• Colleges/Schools: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > Mental Health and Wellbeing
• Supervisor's Name: Jahoda, Professor Andrew and Pert, Dr. Carol
• Date of Award: 2018
• Depositing User: Dr Laura Brougham
• Unique ID: glathesis:2018-8717
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 05 Feb 2018 08:26
• Last Modified: 11 Dec 2023 11:17
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.8717
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/8717