What is compassion? On the one hand, it is a simple algorithm: detecting suffering and taking action to alleviate or prevent it. And on the other, it is a rich array of qualities and characteristics all of which make up what it means to be human. Professor Paul Gilbert takes us through all of that, as well as how concepts of compassion can be helpful in a therapy sitting, and finishing with an emphasis on courage!

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Professor Paul Gilbert, OBE, is Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Derby, Visiting Professor at the University of Queensland Australia, Founder of the Compassionate Mind Foundation, and recently retired Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the Derbyshire Health Care Foundation Trust.

Professor Gilbert has worked extensively as both therapist and researcher, and his experiences in both led him to develop compassion focused therapy, an evolutionary and bio-psycho-social approach to psychotherapy. He has published extensively, including numerous research articles, academic texts and self-help books.

He has a recent publication that provides a rather comprehensive look at his theory of the mind from an evolutionary biopsychosocial perspective, published as open access in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.

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Compassion: From Its Evolution to a Psychotherapy, Front. Psychol., 09 December 2020

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.586161/full