{"id":119148,"date":"2020-05-21T11:00:58","date_gmt":"2020-05-21T10:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/?p=119148"},"modified":"2023-03-13T10:51:12","modified_gmt":"2023-03-13T10:51:12","slug":"kindness-and-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/kindness-and-mental-health.htm","title":{"rendered":"Kindness and Mental Health – Do You Need to Be Nice?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"kindness\"<\/a>

By: Kate Ter Haar<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

by Andrea M. Darcy<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cKindness is a gift everyone can afford<\/a>\u201d. \u201cLove<\/a> and kindness are never wasted\u201d. We hear kindness quotes so often, we might not take them seriously.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But have we underrated the power of kindness?<\/strong> Psychology seems to think so. A growing body of research now recognises a connection between kindness and mental health<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kindness and mental health – how does it help?\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Do we really have to be kind? When we see <\/strong>selfish people<\/a> getting ahead all around us? There is no rule, but it might be that kindness gets us ahead in better, longer lasting ways.<\/p>\n

1. Kindness makes us feel happy<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>(no matter who it involves).\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

A 2019 study<\/a> published in the Journal of Social Psychology looked at how acts of kindness made us feel, and if our responses differed depending on who we were kind to. <\/span><\/p>\n

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It found that all kindness led to increased wellbeing<\/span><\/a>, whether with strangers, or even just being kind to ourselves. And the more our acts of kindness, the better we will feel.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It’s fair to say that the above study was small and limited. A much more thorough <\/strong>meta-analysis<\/a> (reviewing all the current research) looked at 27 different studies and still concluded that kindness has a positive effect on wellbeing, if only a medium effect at best. But significant enough that they recommend more research (and note that the people behind this study have started a charity called “Kindlab<\/a>“).<\/p>\n

2. We experience greater life satisfaction if we perform acts of kindness. <\/span><\/h3>\n

You might want to shake up your kindness routine.<\/strong> While previous studies had already shown that acts of kindness leave us with higher life satisfaction scores, a recent British study<\/a> found that novel acts of kindness, so doing different sorts of things, increased those scores. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

3. It might safeguard you from stress causing physical health issues. <\/span><\/h3>\n

We now know that mental health and<\/strong> physical health<\/a> are connected. And if we are kind, it might mean our stress<\/a> is less likely to connect to illness<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

An interesting study on the neurohormone oxytocin<\/a> found that even two years after charitable behaviour<\/a>, participants still experienced less stress-triggered health problems<\/a>, although the effect depended on their genetic grouping.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Defining kindness<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Photo by: Dayne Topkin<\/p><\/div>\n

How do we know when we are or aren’t being kind, and will or won’t reap the above benefits?<\/em><\/p>\n

The definition of kindness has been debated since as far back as Aristotle, <\/strong>who felt\u00a0kindness <\/span>\u201cmay be defined as helpfulness towards some one in need, not in return for anything, nor for the advantage of the helper himself, but for that of the person helped.\u201d Which could, though, be confused with altruism.<\/p>\n

So then how exactly is kindness different from<\/strong> it’s siblings of\u00a0 compassion<\/a>, empathy<\/a>, and altruism?<\/p>\n

The elements of kindness?<\/h2>\n

According to the results of a British study, kindness<\/strong> might be easier to achieve.<\/p>\n

British psychologist David Canter and his colleagues developed <\/strong>the ‘kindness measure’, a 40-item questionnaire. Their research<\/a> concluded that kindness consists of:<\/span><\/p>\n