New software to boost people's long term wellbeing
A new software game to help people who are highly self-critical search out kindness and compassion may boost their long term wellbeing.
That's the aim of new research being conducted by psychologists at the University and Derbyshire Mental Health Services NHS Trust within the collaborative Mental Health Research Unit which champions innovative new therapies using compassionate approaches.
Early research by the team based at Kingsway Hospital in Derby which set the background to the latest work, has investigated how people react when they see images of people with a range of different facial expressions conveying a variety of moods.
The academic team has now secured £82,000 research funding from The Leverhulme Trust to take the study further and produce the software game.
The team - including world expert in depression Professor Paul Gilbert, Professor James Elander, Dr Frances Maratos, and PhD student Kirsten McEwan - suggest people who are highly self critical and feel inadequate may often spurn the kindness of others - because this makes them feel threatened.
The development of the new software
The team is developing a new software game featuring a wall of about a dozen threatening faces and just one compassionate face to 'train' individuals to seek out the compassionate face in the crowd, and non-consciously focus their attention to search out the compassionate face.
Continual practice with the game is designed to alter the non-conscious negative programmes that self-critical people often display and encourage their attention to focus on the positive and compassionate face. Research will determine if this then boosts wellbeing.
Other publications from this centre
- Allen M S, Jones M V and Sheffield D (2009). Attribution, Emotion, and Collective Efficacy in Sports Teams. Group Dynamics-Theory Research and Practice. 13, 205-217
- Gale M and Ball L J (2009) Exploring the determinants of dual goal facilitation in a rule discovery task. Thinking and Reasoning. 15, 294-315
- King R M, Knibb R C and Hourihane J O (2009) Impact of peanut allergy on quality of life, stress and anxiety in the family. Allergy. 64, 461-468
