Self-Compassion Differences in Women Who Have Experienced Sexual Assault and Nonsexual Assault Trauma

Abstract

In the current exploratory study, differences in self-compassion were examined for women who listed experiencing sexual assault related trauma and nonsexual assault trauma (e.g. violent death or injury of loved one, witnessing death, injury to self, natural disasters, acts of war). Results indicate that individuals who have experienced sexual assault report significantly lower levels of self-compassion compared to those who experience traumas that do not involve sexual assault. Examination of differences in subscale scores of the Self-Compassion scale revealed that those who experienced sexual assault were significantly higher in self-judgment, isolation, and overidentification and marginally significantly lower in self-kindness compared to individuals who experience other types of trauma. Implications for refined treatment approaches involving the inclusion of self-compassion inductions for women who experience sexual assault-related trauma are discussed.