Psychological flexibility and self-compassion buffer the impact of shame on depression among adults with physical disabilities.

Authors

Michael Christopher, Xander Kahle, Kaylia Pham

Published in

PLOS mental health. Volume 3. Issue 9. Pages e0000707. Epub Sep 09, 2026.

Abstract

Individuals with physical disabilities experience higher rates of depression relative to the general population. Shame is a central mechanism linking disability status to poor mental health outcomes, including depression. Psychological flexibility and self-compassion have been shown to change one's relationship to negative self-evaluations such as shame. The goal of this study was to determine if psychological flexibility and self-compassion negatively predict depression and buffer the impact of shame on depression in adults with physical disabilities. Adults with physical disabilities (n = 207) completed self-report measures of psychological flexibility, self-compassion, shame, and depression. Consistent with prediction, a series of multiple regressions indicated that psychological flexibility and self-compassion negatively predicted depression over and beyond shame, and they both mitigated the impact of shame on depression among adults with physical disabilities (all p's < .05). These results suggest that psychological flexibility and self-compassion enhancing treatments, such as mindfulness-based interventions and acceptance and commitment therapy may be helpful in improving the mental health and wellbeing of adults with physical disabilities.

PMID:
42715229
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 10 Sep 2026.

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