Kristin Neff, Ph.D., says that it’s time to “stop beating yourself up and leave insecurity behind.” Self-Compassion: Stop Beating Yourself Up and Leave Insecurity Behind offers expert advice on how to limit self-criticism and offset its negative effects, enabling you to achieve your highest potential and a more contented, fulfilled life. More and more, psychologists are turning away from an emphasis on self-esteem and moving toward self-compassion in the treatment of their patients—and Dr. Neff’s extraordinary book offers exercises and action plans for dealing with every emotionally debilitating struggle, be it parenting, weight loss, or any of the numerous trials of everyday living.

Social Workers and Compassion is designed to assist social work students, social workers, social work managers, social care workers, and lecturers in developing knowledge, understanding, skills, and values related to various aspects of compassion. Focussing on social work in the UK, the various elements of compassion – compassion, compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, self-care, self-compassion, and mindfulness – are clearly located in a systemic, organisational, and structural context. The chapters draw upon evidence-based and evidence-informed sources and present critical perspectives that are linked to existing practices in social work education, social work, and the author’s own experiences. Drawing upon literature from social work and health care, social, organisational, work, and positive psychology, and from sociology and social policy from various parts of the world, the book will be of interest to international social work readers as well as professionals and professionals in training in the criminal justice, health care, counselling, and clinical psychology fields. It will be essential reading for social work students, lecturers, social care workers, social workers, and their managers.

In Compassion, ten scholars draw on literature, psychoanalysis, and social history to provide an archive of cases and genealogies of compassion. Together these essays demonstrate how "being compassionate" is shaped by historical specificity and social training, and how the idea of compassion takes place in scenes that are anxious, volatile, surprising, and even contradictory.

What is compassion, how does it affect the quality of our lives and how can we develop compassion for ourselves and others? Humans are capable of extreme cruelty but also considerable compassion. Often neglected in Western psychology, this book looks at how compassion may have evolved, and is linked to various capacities such as sympathy, empathy, forgiveness and warmth. Exploring the effects of early life experiences with families and peers, this book outlines how developing compassion for self and others can be key to helping people change, recover and develop ways of living that increase well-being. Focusing on the multi-dimensional nature of compassion, international contributors: explore integrative evolutionary, social constructivist, cognitive and Buddhist approaches to compassion consider how and why cruelty can flourish when our capacities for compassion are turned off, especially in particular environments focus on how therapists bring compassion into their therapeutic relationship, and examine its healing effects describe how to help patients develop inner warmth and compassion to help alleviate psychological problems. Compassion provides detailed outlines of interventions that are of particular value to psychotherapists and counsellors interested in developing compassion as a therapeutic focus in their work. It is also of value to social scientists interested in pro-social behaviour, and those seeking links between Buddhist and Western psychology.

There are many people across the planet who work every day for the sake of others but who are ensconced in exhausting work with dangerous and difficult situations of conflict. These people are often heroic bridge-builders and creators of peaceful societies, and they have a common set of cultivated moral character traits and psychosocial skills. They tend to be kinder, more reasonable, more self-controlled, and more goal-oriented to peace. They are united by a particular set of moral values and the emotional skills to put those values into practice. The aim of this book is to articulate the best combination of those values and skills that lead to personal and communal sustainability, not burnout and self-destruction. The book pivots on the observable difference in the mind-and proven in neuroscience imaging experiments-between destructive empathic distress, on the one hand, and, on the other, joyful, constructive, compassionate care. .

This book explores the importance of compassion and empathy within educational contexts. While compassion and empathy are widely recognised as key to living a happy and healthy life, there is little written about how these qualities can be taught to children and young people, or how teachers can model these traits in their own practice. This book shares several models of compassion and empathy that can be implemented in schooling contexts, also examining how these qualities are presented in children’s picture books, films and games. The editors and contributors share personal insights and practical approaches to improve both awareness and use of compassionate and empathetic approaches to others. This book will be of interest and value to all those interested in promoting compassion and empathy within education.

Compassion takes as its starting point 'Cum scientia caritas', the motto of the Royal College of General Practitioners. Translated as 'Science with compassion', it captures the technical and caring aspects of being a doctor. Science is continually developing but compassion is unchanging. But how relevant is compassion to the NHS today? Compassion is central to the practice of health care. Patients require compassion as much as they require knowledge and technical skill from their healthcare professionals. Compassion should be a motivation for anyone choosing a career in primary care. However, in recent years there have been startling instances where compassion has not been shown. Compassion: Compassion, Continuity and Caring in the NHS is a reminder that compassion is at the heart of good medical practice. The book is split into sections on patients, education and training, clinicians and future developments. There are overview chapters on access to health care, the changing model of NHS care, a history of GP selection procedures and ways of preparing the next generation of GPs. This wide-ranging book also contains chapters on specific topics: the role of the multidisciplinary team, homeless patients, prescribing, nursing in primary care, post-conflict symptoms, suicide prevention and more. Personal perspectives are also given: A layman provides a personal account of the end-of-life care his wife received. A junior doctor reflects on the different factors that guide compassion. And a doctor from the United States offers a worrying picture of primary health care's possible fate. This book looks to the future too with chapters on scholarship, building resilience, mindfulness, continuity of care and the development of a new professionalism. This book will help the reader reconsider and re-evaluate compassion - the characteristic so important in creating a long-term relationship between health professional and patient.