Therapist mindfulness and subjective vitality: the role of psychological wellbeing and compassion satisfaction.

BACKGROUND: Mindfulness and vitality are related constructs in the literature; however, mindfulness and vitality have not been fully examined in the literature, specifically with mental health therapists. AIMS: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between mindfulness and vitality among a sample of licensed mental health clinicians. Compassion satisfaction (CS) and psychological wellbeing are further explored as mechanisms by which a therapist may experience vitality and the impact mindfulness may have on these mechanisms. METHODS: Mediation analyses were utilized to understand the relationship between mindfulness and vitality and the indirect paths of psychological wellbeing and CS. RESULTS: Results indicate that therapists with greater mindfulness report more vitality, higher overall psychological wellbeing and higher CS. As expected, the relationship between mindfulness and vitality was mediated by psychological wellbeing and CS. Results support the existing research on the relationship between mindfulness and vitality. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding the importance of psychological wellbeing and CS has implications for addressing the high incidences of the negative impact of therapeutic work.

Life Events and Prosocial Behaviors Among Young Adults: Considering the Roles of Perspective Taking and Empathic Concern.

The authors examined the altruism born of suffering model in a culturally diverse sample of young adults. They hypothesized that major life events would interact with perspective taking to predict empathic concern, which would predict multiple types of prosocial behaviors among young adults. The sample included 202 young adults (M age = 20.94 years; 76.5% girls; 36.5% White, 50.5% Latino) who reported on their exposure to major life events, perspective taking and empathic responding, and tendency to engage in six forms of prosocial behaviors. Life events indirectly, positively predicted prosocial behaviors via empathic concern. Empathic concern and perspective taking also interacted to predict empathic responding. The results demonstrated links that support the altruism born of suffering model, suggesting that life stressors might not always be negative and might promote resilience and social connection among young adults under specific conditions.