The Effectiveness of Self-Compassion Therapy on Sleep Disturbance, Guilt Feeling and Dysfunctional Thoughts of Sexual Abused Girls

The adverse effects of sexual abuse are so devastating that can impact a person's entire life. The aim of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of self-compassion treatment on sleep disturbance, dysfunctional thoughts, and guilt feeling in sexual abused girls. The method of this research was semi-experimental pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The total study population consisted of 25 girls with a history of sexual abuse experience in the city of Babolsar, Iran, from which 20 individual were selected using purposive sampling. They were randomly assigned to two groups of 10, an experiment and control group. All participants were evaluated the Boyce sleep disturbance, the Kugler Guilt feeling, and Weismann dysfunctional thoughts questionnaires. The experimental group received 8 sessions of 90-minute of self-compassion therapy individually, control group did not receive any intervention. After intervention, the questionnaires were completed by both groups. Data were analyzed by univariate covariance. The results showed that self-compassion therapy had positive effect on reducing sleep disturbances and guilt feeling, but had no effect on reducing dysfunctional thoughts. Overall, the study showed that self-compassion treatment plays effective role in reducing sleep disturbances and guilt feelings on sexual abused girls.