Combining Soothing Breathing With A Soothing Smell

One of the aims of compassion focused therapy (CFT) and compassionate mind training (CMT) is to activate and develop the soothing system, as this allows us to counteract the effects and stresses of the threat and drive systems. In simple terms, when the soothing system is active, we are more inclined to feel and give compassion. Like any practical skill, however, the soothing system is developed and strengthened through training and practice.

The Voice Tone exercise is a track taken from the Psychology Tools For Developing Self-Compassion audio collection. Care-giving and soothing received from others is often associated with particular behaviors and voice tones. Similarly, threatening and self-critical behaviors are associated with particular voice tones. Training ourselves to adopt behaviors that we associate with compassion, kindness, and care-giving can have the effect of increasing our ability to self-soothe. In this exercise, the listener is guided to speak some short phrases

The Psychology Tools For Developing Self-Compassion audio collection is for anyone who wants to learn more about the ideas and practices of compassion focused therapy. It has been designed to be versatile, so it is suitable to support work with therapists who have been trained in compassion focused therapy, or to be used as a stand-alone collection of exercises. To assist the integration of the exercises into their clinical work, therapists can download the scripts for each exercise and use them in-session.

Individual tracks from the audio collection can be downloaded as .MP3 files, which can be played in most media player apps.

The simplest way to share an audio track with your clients is by using the Psychology Tools ‘Email a client’ function. After obtaining their consent, you can send it directly from this page by clicking ‘Send securely to my client’. Your client will receive a secure email containing

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• Savari, Y., Mohagheghi, H., & Petrocchi, N. (2021). A preliminary investigation on the effectiveness of compassionate mind training for students with major depressive disorder: A randomized controlled trial. Mindfulness, 12(5), 1159-1172.