Self-compassion in the Relation to Treatment Outcome in Severe Somatoform Disorders: A Prospective Study

Abstract

Somatoform disorder (in the current diagnostic system ‘somatic symptom disorder’) is a group of disorders for which therapy not always proves to be successful, despite intensive and often costly interventions. Treatment outcomes could perhaps be improved if patient characteristics that can predict treatment outcome are known. This knowledge could be used to customize the treatment to these characteristics and to select patients for specific treatments. Self-compassion, a relatively new construct which has been linked to greater resilience, might hold both predictive- and therapeutic potential in the treatment of severe somatoform disorder, because somatoform disorder patients generally have less self-compassion than the general population. The present study examines whether self-compassion can predict treatment outcome in severe somatoform disorder, and whether this effect is moderated by gender. Age is considered as a covariate in this study. A sample of 148 male and female patients diagnosed with somatoform disorder completed the Dutch versions of the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS; self-compassion), Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI; psychopathology), Physical Symptom Checklist (PSC; physical complaints), and the Short Form 36 (RAND SF-36; mental and physical health). All participants received treatment in a specialized treatment centre, Altrecht Psychosomatics Zeist, the Netherlands. Multiple regression analyses showed that self-compassion and gender together account for 0.4% of the variation in psychopathology, 2.0% of the variation in physical complaints, 2.0% of the variation in mental functioning and 2.0% of the variation in physical functioning. None of the associations of self-compassion and gender with the treatment outcome on any of the variables were found to be significant. No interaction effect between self-compassion and gender was found. However, self-compassion was negatively correlated with levels of psychopathology and physical complaints, and in lesser extent positively correlated to mental health and physical health. In conclusion, the present research demonstrates that self-compassion does not predict treatment outcome in severe somatoform disorder. Also, gender does not predict treatment outcome or moderate the relationship between self-compassion and treatment outcome. Previous research findings regarding correlational effects between self-compassion and psychopathology, physical complaints, mental health, and physical health have been replicated, which supports the belief that self-compassion is a resilience factor in somatoform disorder.