## Summary: The Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) developed by Dr. Kristin Neff is a psychological instrument designed to assess self-compassion. It evaluates how individuals emotionally respond to themselves in moments of perceived suffering or failure. Self-compassion comprises being self-kind, recognizing one’s experiences as part of the larger human experience (common humanity), and holding a balanced awareness of emotions (mindfulness). The SCS is beneficial for clinicians and researchers to understand and enhance therapeutic interventions focusing on self-compassion practices.
## Instructions for Clinicians: The Self-Compassion Scale is administered as follows: - Explain the purpose of the Self-Compassion Scale to the participant. - Confirm that the participant comprehends each item and the associated response scale. - Instruct the participant to use the 5-point Likert scale for their responses, where 1 indicates "Almost never" and 5 indicates "Almost always." - Emphasize the importance of spontaneous and truthful responses. - Advise participants to consider the context of facing difficult or challenging situations while responding. - Provide a comfortable and private setting for the participant to complete the scale.
## Scoring Methodology: The Self-Compassion Scale is scored in the following manner: - Record the response for each item using the 5-point Likert scale. - Reverse the scoring for items related to negative subscales (such as self-judgment, isolation, over-identification) to ensure they align positively with the construct of self-compassion. - Calculate the mean for each of the six component subscales to obtain individual subscale scores. - Derive the total self-compassion score by averaging the means of all the subscales. - Utilize either the individual subscale scores or the total score for subsequent analysis, based on the objectives of the assessment.
## Authors and Citations: Author: - Dr. Kristin Neff, Ph.D. Citation: - Neff, K. D. (2003). Development and validation of a scale to measure self-compassion. Self and Identity, 2, 223-250.
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Q# | Subscale | Statement | Almost never | Rarely | Sometimes | Very often | Almost always |
1 | Self-Judgment | I’m disapproving and judgmental about my own flaws and inadequacies. | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
2 | Over-identified | When I’m feeling down I tend to obsess and fixate on everything that’s wrong. | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
3 | Common Humanity | When things are going badly for me, I see the difficulties as part of life that everyone goes through. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
4 | Isolation | When I think about my inadequacies, it tends to make me feel more separate and cut off from the rest of the world. | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
5 | Self-Kindness | I try to be loving towards myself when I’m feeling emotional pain. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
6 | Over-identified | When I fail at something important to me I become consumed by feelings of inadequacy. | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
7 | Common Humanity | When I'm down and out, I remind myself that there are lots of other people in the world feeling like I am. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
8 | Self-Judgment | When times are really difficult, I tend to be tough on myself. | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
9 | Mindfulness | When something upsets me I try to keep my emotions in balance. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
10 | Common Humanity | When I feel inadequate in some way, I try to remind myself that feelings of inadequacy are shared by most people. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
11 | Self-Judgment | I’m intolerant and impatient towards those aspects of my personality I don't like. | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
12 | Self-Kindness | When I’m going through a very hard time, I give myself the caring and tenderness I need. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
13 | Isolation | When I’m feeling down, I tend to feel like most other people are probably happier than I am. | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
14 | Mindfulness | When something painful happens I try to take a balanced view of the situation. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
15 | Common Humanity | I try to see my failings as part of the human condition. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
16 | Self-Judgment | When I see aspects of myself that I don’t like, I get down on myself. | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
17 | Mindfulness | When I fail at something important to me I try to keep things in perspective. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
18 | Isolation | When I’m really struggling, I tend to feel like other people must be having an easier time of it. | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
19 | Self-Kindness | I’m kind to myself when I’m experiencing suffering. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
20 | Over-identified | When something upsets me I get carried away with my feelings. | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
21 | Self-Judgment | I can be a bit cold-hearted towards myself when I'm experiencing suffering. | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
22 | Mindfulness | When I'm feeling down I try to approach my feelings with curiosity and openness. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
23 | Self-Kindness | I’m tolerant of my own flaws and inadequacies. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
24 | Over-identified | When something painful happens I tend to blow the incident out of proportion. | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
25 | Isolation | When I fail at something that's important to me, I tend to feel alone in my failure. | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
26 | Self-Kindness | I try to be understanding and patient towards those aspects of my personality I don't like. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |