Getting Past the Fork in the Road to Resolution: Investigating Self-Compassion as a Guide to Overcoming Difficult Life Events

Unresolved events (e.g., break-up, argument, loss) lack psychological closure; memories of these events demand cognitive resources, incite intense emotions, and are associated with negative mental health outcomes. To make matters worse, efforts to resolve events frequently backfire to perpetuate distress. There is a critical need to identify effective strategies to help individuals cope with these experiences. The present study experimentally examines whether a self-compassion exercise (vs. thinking as usual) influences levels of posttraumatic cognitions, posttraumatic growth, and psychological closure for negative unresolved events. Event centrality to identity and life-story is expected to moderate these effects. A total of 200 undergrads will be randomly assigned to a self-compassion or control task concerning an unresolved event of their choice, following which they will complete a series of questionnaires. This study stands to provide a practical means of helping people find closure (self-compassionate mindstate induction) in addition to informing theory and research on posttraumatic experiences.