OBM Integrative and Complementary Medicine is an international peer-reviewed Open Access journal published quarterly online by LIDSEN Publishing Inc. It covers all evidence-based scientific studies on integrative, alternative and complementary approaches to improving health and wellness.

Topics contain but are not limited to:

  • Acupuncture
  • Acupressure
  • Acupotomy
  • Bioelectromagnetics applications
  • Pharmacological and biological treatments including their efficacy and safety
  • Diet, nutrition and lifestyle changes
  • Herbal medicine
  • Homeopathy
  • Manual healing methods (e.g., massage, physical therapy)
  • Kinesiology
  • Mind/body interventions
  • Preventive medicine
  • Research in integrative medicine
  • Education in integrative medicine
  • Related policies

The journal publishes a variety of article types: Original Research, Review, Communication, Opinion, Comment, Conference Report, Technical Note, Book Review, etc.

There is no restriction on paper length, provided that the text is concise and comprehensive. Authors should present their results in as much detail as possible, as reviewers are encouraged to emphasize scientific rigor and reproducibility.

Publication Speed (median values for papers published in 2023): Submission to First Decision: 5.9 weeks; Submission to Acceptance: 14.7 weeks; Acceptance to Publication: 8 days (1-2 days of FREE language polishing included)

Current Issue: 2024  Archive: 2023

Topical Collection

Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) – Advances and Innovations

Editors

Syd Hiskey, PhD, DClinPsy

The Oaks Hospital, Colchester, United Kingdom

Website | E-Mail

Research interests: Compassion, traditional martial arts, therapist courage, embodiment, rupture management in therapy

Neil Clapton, DClinPsy

Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, Swindon, United Kingdom

Website | E-Mail

Research interests: Compassion Focused Therapy, compassion, traditional martial arts, embodiment, alliance rupture repair, shame

Topical Collection Information

Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) and Compassionate Mind Training (CMT) continues to garner interest amongst clinicians and researchers alike. This special issue will showcase the latest thinking around the applicability of CFT amongst differing populations and contexts (both clinical and non-clinical), as well as  further considering processes central to the successful delivery of CFT. We welcome novel contributions that seek to extend our understanding of compassion-based approaches to reducing suffering. This will include the theoretical and practical applications of CFT to as yet under-researched and under-represented populations, as well as creatively embodied approaches to CFT and CMT. We welcome submissions that utilize standard research paradigms as well as attempts to creatively explore the circumstances under which compassion is experienced and embodied, that can be conceptualized within the CFT framework.

Publication (11 papers)

2024

Jump to: 2023 

Open Access Project Report

Promoting Workplace Mental Health for Hospital Social Workers Using Compassionate Mind Training

Received: 30 April 2024;  Published: 04 November 2024;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.2404064

Abstract

Hospital social workers commonly experience empathy fatigue and burnout at work. However, empathic distress can be reversed by cultivating compassion as a skill and learning how to turn empathy into compassion. This report explores how 60 staff used Compassion Mind Training (CMT) to promote workpla [...]
Open Access Case Report

Compassion Focused Therapy for an Older Adult with Complex Emotional Needs: A Case Study and Considerations for Practice

Received: 20 April 2024;  Published: 14 September 2024;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.2403051

Abstract

‘Personality disorders’ (referred to as complex emotional needs in this report) are common in older adults. Yet they are often under-recognised which impacts access to appropriate care pathways. Once in services, older adults lack the same access to specialist mental health [...]
Open Access Research Article

Developing a Compassion Focused Supervision Model for Senior Leaders in Education

Received: 22 March 2024;  Published: 11 June 2024;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.2402033

Abstract

This article describes the development and delivery of a novel model of supervision for senior teachers in schools, informed by Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT). It explores whether this model can be considered acceptable and valuable to senior teachers, and is able to be delivered by multiple super [...]
Open Access Original Research

Enhancing Therapist Courage: Feasibility and Changes in Distress Tolerance and Equanimity Following Martial Arts-Based Radically Embodied Compassion Workshops

Received: 07 April 2024;  Published: 21 May 2024;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.2402029

Abstract

The work of psychotherapy demands much of those who engage in it. Compassion provisioned by therapists requires varying competencies, yet remains a highly embodied and enactive endeavour. Therapist skill can be cultivated in this area and enhanced through a variety of body-mind trainings, including [...]
Open Access Concept Paper

Compassion-Focused Mentoring: An Antidote to Adverse Faculty-Student Mentoring Outcomes?

Received: 14 October 2023;  Published: 27 April 2024;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.2402024

Abstract

Fueled by decreased state support, economic pressures, and a growing emphasis on academic capitalism, higher education in the United States faces significant challenges. These shifts have fostered fast-paced, competitive environments, impacting the quality and equity of faculty-student mentoring in [...]
Open Access Original Research

The Acceptability and Impact of a Video on Compassion Focused Therapy as a Psycho-Educative Tool to Deepen Awareness around Voice-Hearing

Received: 21 December 2023;  Published: 25 April 2024;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.2402023

Abstract

In the compassion focused therapy (CFT) model of voice-hearing, a distressing relationship with voices is thought to be influenced by evolved threat-protection patterns, which are activated and attuned by socially threatening experiences, such as being harmed by others, as well being shamed, stigmat [...]
Open Access Original Research

“Seeing Myself Through Someone Else’s Eyes”: Embodying the Perfect Nurturer in Compassion Focused Therapy

Received: 29 January 2024;  Published: 27 March 2024;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.2401021

Abstract

Compassion-focused chairwork has become a recent focus of empirical investigation. This study extended this area of research by exploring how participants with depression experienced the ‘compassionate other’ imagery exercise enacted via chairwork methods. Eight individuals from primary care NHS men [...]
Open Access Short Report

The Heavy Burden of Judgement: Cultivating Compassion with People Accessing Healthcare Services for Support with Weight Management

Received: 16 October 2023;  Published: 20 March 2024;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.2401020

Abstract

Compassion focused therapy concepts and techniques are explored in the context of weight management efforts within community, specialist and surgical settings. Living at higher weights within a culture that over-values life at low weights can induce feelings of shame, self-loathing and hypercriticis [...]

2023

Jump to: 2024 

Open Access Technical Note

Integrating Compassion into EMDR for PTSD

Received: 15 August 2023;  Published: 30 November 2023;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.2304058

Abstract

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often involves feeling-states of shame and self-loathing. Traditional exposure-based treatments, which are effective for fear-based PTSD, are sometimes limited in effectiveness when working with these emotional experiences: clients with high levels of shame, gui [...]
Open Access Concept Paper

Theory and Interpersonal Processes in Compassion Focused Therapy

Received: 20 August 2023;  Published: 29 November 2023;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.2304056

Abstract

This paper reviews key theories underlying the interpersonal process in Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) and links these to purported mechanisms of action in CFT. The paper goes on to provide a concrete practice example of an exampled dialogue between a clinician and client and narrates the interper [...]
Open Access Concept Paper

An Exploration of Compassion Focused Therapy for Grieving Individuals

Received: 26 August 2023;  Published: 16 November 2023;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.2304052

Abstract

In the past several decades, new understandings about grief have emerged. In the same time frame, a substantial body of literature has explored the components of compassion and their poten [...]
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