Longitudinal impact of self-compassion and psychological flexibility on mental illness recovery: The mediating roles of self-stigma and mental health service engagement

Objectives: The present study examined the longitudinal impact of self-compassion and psychological flexibility on clinical recovery and personal recovery among people with mental illness and explored the potential mechanisms underlying this impact. We hypothesized that self-compassion and psychological flexibility would be longitudinally associated with higher levels of clinical recovery and personal recovery and these longitudinal associations would be mediated by lower levels of self-stigma and disengagement from mental health services. 

Method: On three occasions (i.e., T1, T2, and T3) across 2 years, 202 people with mental illness provided questionnaire data on self-compassion, psychological flexibility, self-stigma, service disengagement, clinical recovery, and personal recovery. 

Results: Path analyses showed that self-compassion and psychological flexibility at T1 had significant direct effects on self-stigma and service disengagement at T2, which, in turn, had significant direct effects on clinical recovery and personal recovery at T3. Bootstrap analyses further showed that self-compassion and psychological flexibility at T1 had significant indirect effects on clinical recovery and personal recovery at T3 through self-stigma and service disengagement at T2. 

Conclusions: Our findings reveal how self-compassion and psychological flexibility may enable people with mental illness to reduce self-stigma and service disengagement, which can, in turn, facilitate symptomatic remission and promote psychological wellness. These findings point to the potential utility of cultivating self-compassion and psychological flexibility in enabling people with mental illness to recover from mental health problems and live hopeful and satisfying lives. 

Preregistration: This study is not preregistered. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.