The effectiveness of mindful self-compassion training on loneliness,internalized shame, experiential avoidance and cognitive fusion inmothers with children with autism spectrum disorder

Challenges caused by continuous care, maintenance and support of a child with autism spectrum disorder affect the social relationships of these mothers and these mothers feel inferior and powerless, self-blame because of their child's inappropriate behavior and the society misunderstands these children. They have resistance to negative experiences. Therefore, this research was conducted with the aim of determining the effectiveness of mindfulness self-compassion training on feelings of loneliness, internalized shame, experiential avoidance and cognitive fusion in mothers with children with autism spectrum disorder.

This research was a semi-experimental method with pre-test and post-test with experimental and control groups. The statistical population of the present study included mothers with children with autism spectrum disorder who attended one of the psychological clinics in Yazd. Thirty qualified people were selected by purposeful sampling based on the entry and exit criteria and were randomly replaced in the control group (15 people) and the experimental group (15 people). The experimental group received ten mindfulness selfcompassion sessions as a group, and the control group did not receive any intervention. The research tools included Russell, Curtona & Peplau (1993) loneliness scale, Cook's internalized shame (1993), experiential avoidance and Greco, Lambert & Baer (2008) cognitive fusion scale. The research data was analyzed through multivariate and univariate analysis of covariance with spss 24 software.

The results of the research data showed that conscious self-compassion is effective in improving the feeling of loneliness, internalized shame and its components such as self-esteem and shyness, experiential avoidance and cognitive fusion. (p<0.001).

Based on the findings, it can be said that conscious self-compassion is an efficient method in improving the feeling of loneliness, internalized shame, experiential avoidance and cognitive fusion in mothers with children with autism spectrum disorder. Therefore, this method can be considered as one of the useful and practical treatments for these mothers.