Einleitung: Mit der Compassion Focused Therapy und der Metta-basierten Therapie liegen zwei Verfahren vor, deren zentraler Ansatzpunkt die Förderung von Mitgefühl und Wohlwollen sich selbst und anderen gegenüber ist. Ziel der vorliegenden systematischen Literaturübersicht ist, den aktuellen Forschungsstand zur Wirksamkeit der beiden Verfahren für die Reduktion psychopathologischer Symptomatik sowie zur Steigerung des Selbstmitgefühls zu untersuchen. Methodik: Es wurde eine systematische Literaturrecherche auf den Datenbanken Google Scholar, PubMed, PsycINFO und Web of Science durchgeführt, um diejenigen Studien zu identifizieren, die entweder Compassion Focused Therapy oder Metta-basierte Therapie in einer klinisch relevanten Stichprobe anwendeten. Ergebnisse: Es konnten 21 Studien mit einem randomisierten, kontrollierten Design identifiziert werden. Insgesamt wurden die Daten von 1’102 Versuchspersonen in die systematische Literaturübersicht miteinbezogen. Für beide Verfahren lässt sich eine Verbesserung der psychopathologischen Symptomatik und des Selbstmitgefühls feststellen. Nach aktueller Studienlage besteht eine höhere Evidenzlage für die Wirksamkeit der Compassion Focused Therapy im Vergleich zur Metta-basierten Therapie. Schlussfolgerung: Beide Verfahren stellen eine sinnvolle Erweiterung des psychotherapeutischen Verfahrensrepertoires dar. Zugleich zeigte sich jedoch auch ein deutlicher Unterschied zwischen beiden Verfahren, sodass innerhalb der Compassion Focused Therapy ein breiteres Spektrum an kognitiv-verhaltenstherapeutischen Methoden zum Einsatz kommt, die auch für zukünftige Weiterentwicklungen der Metta-basierten Therapie in Erwägung gezogen werden sollten.

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