The Effectiveness of Compassion-Focused Therapy on Resilience, Shame, Internal Self-criticism, and Quality of Life of Patients with Vitiligo

Vitiligo is a disease of progressive and permanent skin depigmentation. This disease impacts patients’ quality of life through psychological distress, which shows itself in various ways. This distress includes shame and internal self-criticism in patients with vitiligo. Resilience can appear as the strength against distress.

This research aimed to assess the impact of compassion-focused therapy (CFT) on various outcomes, including resilience, shame, internal self-criticism, and quality of life in individuals with vitiligo.

In this study, an RCT design was employed, incorporating both pre- and post-test evaluations alongside a control group, to examine the impact of CFT on resilience, shame, internal self-criticism, and quality of life in patients with vitiligo. Forty patients with vitiligo were selected from Razi Dermatology Hospital in Tehran in 2019. The participants were randomly assigned to either a control or experimental group. The World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, levels of self-criticism scale, and Internalized Shame Scale were used to complete the pre-and post-test phases. Compassion-focused therapy based on the Gilbert therapy package was held in eight 2 h sessions once a week for the experimental group. The control group received the intervention after the end of the experimental group intervention.

The results of the covariance analysis indicated that CFT significantly increased the quality of life (P < 0.05, F = 308.97) and resilience (P < 0.05, F = 125.75) and reduced shame (P < 0.05, F = 228.30) and internal self-criticism (P < 0.05, F = 53.44) of patients with vitiligo.

Compassion-focused therapy can improve the quality of life and resilience and reduce the shame and internal self-criticism of patients with vitiligo.