Objective:

To examine the effects of a single-session compassionate self-talk protocol on emotional and autonomic stress responses in individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), specifically focusing on expected improvements in stress coping and HRV.

Key Findings:

• The self-compassion group showed greater reductions in perceived stress (p = 0.043) and increased positive affect (p = 0.028), supporting the hypothesis.
• HF-HRV was significantly higher in the self-compassion group during a late post-feedback interval (p corrected = 0.038), indicating improved autonomic regulation.
• Increased state self-compassion correlated with reduced stress (r = -0.54) and anxiety (r = -0.45), suggesting a potential mechanism for the observed effects.

Interpretation:

Brief compassionate self-talk may improve subjective stress coping in GAD and is associated with altered autonomic dynamics during cognitive stress, highlighting its potential as a therapeutic tool.

Limitations:

• The sample size was modest, which may limit the generalizability of the findings. Future studies should aim for larger samples.
• Physiological interpretations of HRV data should be approached cautiously due to the use of ultra-short segments and potential biases in participant selection.

Conclusion:

Future studies may explore the combination of self-compassion training with HRV biofeedback to enhance intervention efficacy in clinical settings, addressing current limitations in sample size and methodology.

Sources:

• Clinical Trial Registration