Abstract
Objectives
Acquired brain injury (ABI) can lead to the emergence of several disabilities and is commonly associated with high rates of anxiety and depression symptoms. Self-related constructs, such as self-esteem and self-compassion, might play a key role in this distressing symptomatology. Low explicit (i.e., deliberate) self-esteem is associated with anxiety and depression after ABI. However, implicit (i.e., automatic) self-esteem, explicit-implicit self-discrepancies, and self-compassion could also significantly contribute to this symptomatology. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether implicit self-esteem, explicit-implicit self-discrepancy (size and direction), and self-compassion are related to anxious and depressive symptoms after ABI in adults, beyond the contribution of explicit self-esteem.
Methods
The sample consisted 38 individuals with ABI who were enrolled in a long-term rehabilitation program. All participants completed the measures of explicit self-esteem, implicit self-esteem, self-compassion, anxiety, and depression. Pearson’s correlations and hierarchical regression models were calculated.
Results
Findings showed that both self-compassion and implicit self-esteem negatively accounted for unique variance in anxiety and depression when controlling for explicit self-esteem. Neither the size nor direction of explicit-implicit self-discrepancy was significantly associated with anxious or depressive symptomatology.
Conclusions
The findings suggest that the consideration of self-compassion and implicit self-esteem, in addition to explicit self-esteem, contributes to understanding anxiety and depression following ABI.
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Data Availability
Raw data and measures used in the study are available at the Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/92jnt/
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank all the people who participated in the study and professionals supporting recruitment, especially Silvia Cerezo for her assistance with coordinating schedules.
Funding
Lorena Desdentado is supported by a FPU doctoral scholarship (FPU18/01690) from the Spanish Ministry of Universities. This work was supported by CIBEROBN, an initiative of the ISCIII (ISC III CB06 03/0052).
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LD: designed and executed the study, assisted with the data analyses, and wrote the manuscript. AC: designed the study and collaborated with writing the paper. MM: analyzed the data and assisted with writing the paper, especially the part on the results. RL: collaborated with recruiting the participants and writing the study. MN: collaborated with recruiting the participants. RB: collaborated with writing the study. All the authors approved the final version of the manuscript for submission.
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The institutional Ethical Committee of the University of Valencia (Spain) approved this study, with registration number: H1549821606365. All procedures were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Ethical Committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments.
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Desdentado, L., Cebolla, A., Miragall, M. et al. Exploring the Role of Explicit and Implicit Self-Esteem and Self-Compassion in Anxious and Depressive Symptomatology Following Acquired Brain Injury. Mindfulness 12, 899–910 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-020-01553-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-020-01553-w