Mechanisms of Change in the Relationship between Self‐Compassion, Emotion Regulation, and Mental Health: A Systematic Review

Background Research suggests that self‐compassion may improve mental health by promoting emotion regulation (Berking & Whitley, ). This review aimed to identify studies which investigated the relationship between self‐compassion, emotion regulation, and mental health in order to examine the role of emotional regulation as a mechanism of change. Methods Searches were conducted in Psyc INFO , CINAHL , Medline complete, Web of Science and Scopus databases. Inclusion criteria required publications to be: peer reviewed, published in English, contain validated measures of self‐compassion and emotion regulation, and report a direct analysis on the relationship between these constructs. Results The search yielded five studies which met inclusion criteria. Emotion regulation significantly mediated the relationship between self‐compassion and mental health. This pattern was consistent across community and clinical samples, for a range of mental health symptoms including stress, depression, and post‐traumatic stress disorder. A critical limitation of the review was that all included studies used cross‐sectional data, limiting interpretations regarding causation. Conclusions Results provide preliminary evidence that emotion regulation may be a mechanism of change in the relationship between self‐compassion and mental health. Self‐compassion may be a pertinent preliminary treatment target for individuals who avoid experiences of emotions.