Soothing the rigid mind: self-reassuring as a unique moderator of the link between experiential avoidance and depression

Experiential avoidance has been consistently associated with depressive symptomatology; however, contextual and evolutionary perspectives suggest that its psychological impact may depend on individuals’ motivational stance toward their own distress. The present cross-sectional study examined whether compassionate self-reassuring moderates the association between experiential avoidance and depressive symptoms, and whether this effect is specific to affiliative self-relating processes. A community sample of 393 adults (Mage = 32.98; SD = 10.9, ranging from 18 to 76; 280 women and 113 men) completed self-report measures of experiential avoidance, self-reassuring, depression, self-esteem, self-criticism, self-forgiveness, emotion regulation strategies, and perfectionism. Moderated regression analyses, controlling for gender, age and education, showed that experiential avoidance was strongly associated with depressive symptoms, but this relationship was significantly moderated by self-reassuring: it was weaker among individuals reporting higher levels of self-reassuring, although it remained significant. In contrast, the other constructs, although closely related to self-reassuring, did not significantly moderate this relationship. These findings suggest that the depressogenic impact of experiential avoidance may be conditional on care-focused motivational processes toward the self. The results support evolutionary and compassion-focused models highlighting the importance of affiliative self-relating in psychological adjustment.