We are basically a species designed for caring and sharing, but socio-cultural factors push us towards competitiveness, selfishness and callousness with sometimes disastrous effects.

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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.

In this episode, Paul mentions a recent study in which compassion focused approaches help change psychopathic traits. The reference for the paper is included below.

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Ribeiro da Silva, D., Rijo, D., Brazão, N., Paulo, M., Miguel, R., Castilho, P., Vagos, P., Gilbert, P., & Salekin, R. T. (2021). The efficacy of the PSYCHOPATHY.COMP program in reducing psychopathic traits: A controlled trial with male detained youth. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 89(6), 499–513. https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000659

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2021-62983-002