The neuroscience of compassion: a scoping review of the literature on the neuroscience of compassion and compassion-related therapies.

Compassion motivates people to relieve others' pain and can enhance psychological wellness, but constant compassionate behavior, especially among healthcare workers, may lead to burnout. Compassion-focused meditation may relieve this burnout. This scoping review, following PRISMA guidelines, examined studies on neuroplastic changes from compassion-based meditation, excluding studies with multiple meditation practices, participants with psychiatric histories (except anxiety or depression), or exclusively aging populations. The reviewed studies found neurological changes in the amygdala, anterior insula, medial prefrontal cortex, medial orbitofrontal cortex, and dopamine system structures following compassion-based training. The review suggests such training could enhance well-being, resilience, and compassionate care in healthcare professionals, but more research is needed on sustained benefit and cost-effectiveness.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Compassion is the emotion that motivates people to relieve the physical, emotional, or mental pains of others. Engaging in compassionate behaviour has been found to enhance psychological wellness and resilience. However, constant displays of compassionate behaviour can lead to burnout particularly for healthcare workers who inherently practise compassion day to day. This burnout can be relieved by Compassion focused meditation. The aim of this review is to identify neuroplastic changes in the brain associated with meditation, with a focus on compassion and compassion related meditation. Based on PRISMA guidelines, we conducted a scoping review of studies which described neuroplastic effects of meditation, focusing on compassion-based training. Studies were excluded if they (i) included multiple meditation practices or (ii) included participant populations with psychiatric/neuropsychiatric history (except anxiety or depression) or (iii) included exclusively ageing populations. The results of the reviewed studies showed various neurological changes in regions of the brain as a result of compassion based training. These regions include amygdala, the anterior insula, medial prefrontal cortex, medial orbitofrontal cortex and structures within the dopamine system. This review highlights that compassion-based training could lead to neuroplastic changes which interconnect to enhance overall well-being, resilience and compassionate care among health-care professionals. However, further work is required to establish conclusive evidence of its sustained benefit and cost-effectiveness, as well as its utility in a healthcare setting.