The effectiveness of compassion-focused therapy on the components of self-determination and suicidal ideation in adolescent girls with a history of self-harm

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of compassion-focused therapy on the components of self-determination and suicidal ideation in adolescent girls with a history of self-harm. The design of the research was a semi-experimental pre-test and post-test with a control group. The statistical population of the research included all teenage female students of Folad-shahr city in Isfahan province in the academic year of 2018-2019, who had a history of self-harm and were referred to the education counseling center. 30 of these teenagers were selected by purposive sampling based on the inclusion criteria of the study and were randomly divided into two groups of 15 people, experimental and control. The experimental group underwent 8 sessions of Gilbert's compassion-focused therapy (2014). The instruments used included the Beck Suicide Scale Ideation (BSSI) by Beck (1961) and the Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction Scale (BPNSS) by LaGuardia et al. (2000). The data were analyzed using the multivariate covariance analysis method in SPSS 26. The findings showed that compassion-focused therapy improves self-determination and reduces suicidal thoughts in adolescents with a history. Self-harm has been effective (p<0.01). Also, the effectiveness of this treatment method on improving the perceived need for competence and perceived need for communication and autonomy was confirmed (p<0.01). Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that the compassion-focused therapy is an effective strategy to help reduce the suicidal ideation of teenagers with a history of self-harm and improve self-determination and satisfy their basic psychological needs.