Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT)

How Does CFT Work?

Compassion Focused Therapy helps us to understand how the brain functions when it is biased towards threat. By examining how our “hardware” both helps and hinders us, CFT allows us to better understand internal response systems. 

Using three systems that help us to understand our brains and motivations, CFT aims to balance our internal reactions and stress response so that we can facilitate a kinder relationship to ourselves. The three systems include Threat, Drive (also known as Achievement or Resource), and Soothing, which have always been foundational to our survival as humans. Because we are engineered to protect ourselves from threats, our brains are constantly working to make us overly safe and often miserable, resulting in mental and emotional struggle. 

Despite the huge strides we have made in terms of sustaining survival, our brains have remained difficult to understand and stubborn in their evolutionary responses. While some therapeutic modalities like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy target the Threat and Drive Systems, CFT incorporates Soothing and teaches clients to use all three systems to achieve balance and inner harmony. 

As we begin to foster a sense of control over the Soothing System, symptoms of mental and emotional distress naturally decrease. Exercises aimed at enhancing the Soothing system during CFT may include the following:

• Soothing rhythm breathing (resetting the nervous system by tapping into the breath cycle)
• Supportive colour practice (using colour and imagery to support mind and body)
• Compassionate other (mindfulness and meditative practice used to cultivate support)
• Multiple chair (practising within the three systems to gain a better understanding of instinctive patterns) 
• Compassionate posture (using body posture to influence mental state)
• Letter writing (learning how to “talk to ourselves” in a supportive way)
• Timeline (review and clear past patterns to keep them from getting in the way of present and future progress)
• Body scan (identifying physical and emotional sensations without judgement) 

The ultimate goal of Compassion Focused Therapy is to learn to cultivate kindness and compassion for the self and to change our inner monologue from a critical one to a supportive and encouraging one. By learning how to manage our brain and body responses, we will be better suited to face and overcome life’s challenges with resilience. As such, CFT is used to treat those struggling with anxiety, depression, stress, shame, coping with life transitions, relationship difficulties, and perfectionism. 

Whereas many therapeutic modalities focus on behaviours or somatic sensations, CFT truly helps to cultivate self-soothing techniques and improve the emotional relationship with oneself. Many of my clients have said that of the various therapeutic modalities with which they have experimented, CFT is the one that stuck and created lasting change. They often report that they know they have the skills to face the future, whatever may happen. And in fact, they’re surprised by how fun the process was and how quickly they noticed improvements.