Practising giving yourself warm words is not something that is easy for everyone. For people with borderline personality disorder (BPD), particularly those whose self-criticism and difficulties with emotional regulation are prominent, compassion meditation often runs into obstacles from the very beginning. A research team at the BPD unit of Sant Creu i Sant Pau Hospital in Barcelona, Spain, reported preliminary findings targeting that problem in the international academic journal 〈Psychiatry Research〉 on 16 July.
Oxytocin sprayed in the nose, just before meditation
The team divided 18 participants diagnosed with BPD into two groups of nine. In one group, participants received 24 international units (IU) of oxytocin via a nasal spray, while the other group received a placebo, after which they completed a 15-minute guided self-compassion meditation. This process was repeated once a week for five weeks. The design was double-blind, meaning neither the participants nor the researchers knew which group had received the real drug.
The quality of meditation was measured using the 〈Compassion Practice Quality Scale〉. Self-compassion meditation includes a process in which participants imagine warm images in their minds and stay with the sensations. How well this imagery immersion is carried out was a key indicator.
Imagery scores: 77 to 67
Looking at the results, the average imagery score in the oxytocin group was around 77 out of 100, while the placebo group was around 67. The adjusted difference was 23.98 points, and the partial eta-squared was .57, which corresponds to a large effect size within this sample. The researchers said participants who received oxytocin reported fewer difficulties in practicing compassion.
Oxytocin is known as a hormone involved in attachment and social bonding. The team’s hypothesis is that the hormone lowers the threshold for the process of recalling warm feelings towards others and oneself, helping people to perform the meditation itself more effectively.
Not symptom improvement, but the “quality of meditation performance” measured
A sample size of 18 is for a pilot trial. The team also presented the results not as evidence for treatment effects, but as a stage to confirm the validity of follow-up research. It is also important to note that the primary outcome was the “quality of meditation performance”, not improvement in symptoms, and that the observation period was short at five weeks.
The significance lies elsewhere. When bringing a meditation programme into clinical settings, the idea is to ask “for whom, and why, this method does not work” and then to design separately ways to lower those barriers. This research may lead into discussion on how to help people for whom participation itself is difficult, as mindfulness-based programmes continue to grow in domestic hospitals and counselling settings.
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