What is Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT)?

Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) is an evidence-based psychological approach that helps individuals develop self-compassion and reduce shame, self-criticism, and emotional distress. It blends cognitive-behavioural techniques with insights from evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, and mindfulness.

CFT helps people understand the different systems in the brain that influence emotion—such as the threat, drive, and soothing systems—and supports clients in strengthening their compassionate mind. This can lead to greater emotional balance, self-acceptance, and resilience in the face of stress or adversity.

What is CFT used to treat?

CFT is particularly helpful for: Chronic shame and self-criticism Low self-esteem Anxiety and depression Trauma or childhood adversity Perfectionism and people-pleasing Emotional regulation difficulties

Is Compassion Focused Therapy evidence-based?

Yes. CFT is supported by a growing body of research and clinical practice. It is widely used in NHS and private psychology services and is especially effective for clients who struggle with harsh self-judgement or who feel stuck despite traditional cognitive approaches.

How is CFT different from CBT?

While CBT focuses on challenging negative thoughts, CFT focuses on cultivating a compassionate inner voice. This is particularly powerful for individuals whose difficulties stem from shame, trauma, or internal criticism. CFT and CBT can also be used together.

What happens in a CFT session?

Sessions may include guided imagery, mindfulness, and exercises to build compassion toward yourself. You’ll work with your psychologist to understand how your mind responds to critical internal voice, and how to shift toward a more supportive, balanced inner experience.

Can I have CFT online or in person?

Yes. We offer Compassion Focused Therapy in London at our private clinic, or online via secure video sessions—whichever suits your needs best.

Compassion Focused Therapy

Compassion Focused Therapy, often called CFT, is a psychological therapy that helps you understand and change patterns of shame, self-criticism, threat, anxiety and emotional overwhelm. It can be especially helpful when you are very hard on yourself, feel not good enough, or find it difficult to respond to yourself with warmth, steadiness or care.

Many difficulties are maintained not just by the original problem, but by the way the mind learns to protect us. You might become highly self-critical, constantly scan for mistakes, push yourself harder, feel ashamed of needing help, compare yourself with others, or struggle to soothe yourself when you feel distressed.

At Hampstead Psychology, we offer Compassion Focused Therapy in Hampstead, London, and online across the UK and internationally. We help you understand what is keeping the difficulty going and work in a focused, collaborative way to build a more supportive, resilient and compassionate relationship with yourself.

This page is for information and does not replace a clinical assessment, diagnosis, or medical advice.

When Compassion Focused Therapy might be helpful

You might recognise some of these experiences:

You are highly self-critical or often feel not good enough.
You feel ashamed, defective, weak or like you are failing.
You find it easier to support others than to be kind to yourself.
You push yourself hard but rarely feel satisfied.
You feel anxious, threatened or on edge much of the time.
You struggle to recover after mistakes, criticism or perceived failure.
You understand your difficulties intellectually, but still feel trapped in harsh inner patterns.
You want therapy that helps you build emotional strength, not just insight.

If this sounds familiar, Compassion Focused Therapy may help. It is particularly useful when shame, self-criticism, threat sensitivity or emotional overwhelm are keeping distress going.

What Compassion Focused Therapy can help with

Self-criticism and inner harsh pressure

CFT can help when your mind responds to difficulty with criticism, blame or pressure to do more. Therapy helps you understand why self-criticism may have developed, how it affects your mood and behaviour, and how to build a more compassionate inner voice that supports change rather than driving it through fear.

Shame, low self-worth and feeling not good enough

Many people come to CFT because they carry a deep sense of shame or inadequacy, even if they appear capable on the outside. Therapy helps you understand these patterns without blame and develop a more stable sense of worth that is less dependent on achievement, approval or never making mistakes.

Anxiety, threat and emotional overwhelm

CFT can be helpful when your nervous system feels easily triggered, on edge or under threat. It helps you understand how the threat system works, why your body and mind may respond so strongly, and how to develop skills that support steadiness, emotional regulation and recovery.

Depression, burnout and exhaustion

When people feel low, burnt out or emotionally depleted, self-criticism can make recovery harder. CFT helps reduce the pressure, shame and harshness that often sit underneath depression or burnout, while supporting more sustainable ways of responding to yourself and your needs.

Trauma, attachment and relationship patterns

CFT can be helpful when earlier experiences have shaped how safe, worthy or acceptable you feel. Therapy can support people who struggle with trust, rejection sensitivity, people-pleasing, emotional withdrawal or fear of being judged, while helping build a more compassionate and secure relationship with self and others.

Related difficulties we often see together.

Many people come to CFT with more than one difficulty. Self-criticism may sit alongside anxiety, shame may sit alongside low mood, and burnout may sit alongside perfectionism or over-responsibility.

Therapy works best when we understand the whole picture while keeping the work focused. We look at how your thoughts, emotions, body, relationships, early experiences and coping strategies interact.

What keeps problems going?

CFT looks at how the mind and body respond to threat. When you feel criticised, rejected, exposed, overwhelmed or not good enough, your threat system may become activated quickly. You might then respond by attacking yourself, withdrawing, people-pleasing, overworking, avoiding, comparing yourself with others or trying to prove your worth. These strategies often make sense in the short term.

Over time, however, they can keep shame, anxiety, low mood and self-criticism active. CFT helps you understand these patterns and develop a more compassionate way of responding that supports courage, steadiness and change.

How compassion focused therapy helps

At Hampstead Psychology, CFT is not simply about “being kinder to yourself”. We begin by understanding the specific pattern you are caught in, including how self-criticism, shame, threat, avoidance or emotional overwhelm are being maintained.

Therapy then helps you build practical compassion-focused skills. This may include working with the inner critic, developing soothing and grounding strategies, strengthening emotional regulation, and learning how to respond to difficulty with greater steadiness and care.

What to expect from sessions

Sessions are collaborative, thoughtful and practical. We develop a shared understanding of what is keeping the problem going and how your mind and body respond under threat. The work may involve noticing self-critical patterns, understanding emotional systems, practising compassionate responses, and testing new ways of relating to yourself and others between sessions.

How long does therapy take?

This depends on the difficulty, how long it has been present, and how many overlapping patterns are involved. Some people benefit from focused CFT for self-criticism, shame, anxiety, burnout or low mood. Others may need longer therapy where difficulties are linked to trauma, attachment, longstanding self-worth difficulties or repeated relationship patterns.

CBT therapy in London and online

We offer Compassion Focused Therapy in person in Hampstead, London, and online across the UK and internationally. Both in-person and online CFT can be effective.

Take the next step

If you are feeling stuck in self-criticism, shame, anxiety, burnout, low mood, emotional overwhelm or the sense that you are not good enough, Compassion Focused Therapy can offer a practical and evidence-based way forward. Contact Hampstead Psychology to enquire about Compassion Focused Therapy in London or online.

Useful links: Anxiety, Depression, Stress and Burnout, Insomnia and Sleep Problems, Fees, Meet the Team, Contact.

Urgent Help

If you are worried about immediate risk to your safety, call 999 or go to A&E. If you need urgent support but it isn’t an emergency, contact NHS 111 or your GP. You can also contact Samaritans on 116 123 (24/7).

Meet The Team

At Hampstead Psychology, all of our psychologists have extensive training to doctoral level and decades of experience in their field of expertise. You will be matched with a psychologist that has the knowledge and skill to help you understand and overcome your problem - not just in the short term but for good.