Comprehending self-compassion manifestations and their relationships among adults diagnosed with ADHD: A foundation for recovery-based interventions

Background: Enhancing self-compassion (SC) was found to enhance Quality of Life (QoL). There is a need to comprehend SC manifestations among adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who experience low QoL to provide a foundation for Recovery-based interventions aiming to enhance SC and QoL among adults with ADHD. Objective: To explore SC manifestations and their relationships with ADHD symptoms and ADHD related QoL. Methods: A cross-sectional survey used self-rated questionnaires for ADHD symptoms, QoL and SC among 32 adults with ADHD, recruited by a volunteer community sampling. Results: Moderate overall SC was noted. Negative SC means were found to be higher than the positive SC means. The positive SC subscale common humanity had the lowest mean while the negative SC subscale overidentification had the highest mean. Overall SC level was found to significantly contribute to ADHD symptoms in predicting QoL variance. Overidentification was found to be a significant partial mediator between ADHD symptoms and QoL. Conclusion: Recovery-based interventions aiming to decrease the tendency of adults with ADHD to overidentify with their negative thoughts and feelings and to enhance their realization that their difficulties are shared by others, may have the potential to enhance SC and QoL.