Navigating the App-Wilderness: Learn to Find the Best App or Start to Design One Yourself:Pre-Conference Session

In this workshop you will learn how to evaluate existing apps on their theoretical basis, their usability and their persuasiveness to keep users engaged. We will provide hands-on experience in evaluating and selecting the right app for the job; give examples of high quality and lower quality apps to improve e.g. self-compassion and positive emotions; and give you the tools to apply this to your own field of interest

Self-Compassion as a Resource of Resilience

From risk to resilience and from mental illness only to including mental well-being, a paradigm shift occurs within the field of clinical psychology. Resilience, consisting of recovery as well as sustainability and growth processes, pertains to the successful (and common) adaptation to adversity. This includes a return to baseline functioning or a new emotional equilibrium, as well as maintaining approach motivations toward personal values and goals. There is growing evidence that self-compassion is an inner resource that promotes resilience. Self-compassion aspects of mindfulness, self-kindness, and common humanity facilitate both short-term and long-term adaptation processes. Using examples of going through war (veterans) and going through cancer, this chapter illustrates how self-compassion can contribute to decreased mental distress (including anxiety and loneliness) and increased mental well-being (including emotional stability and self-care behaviors). Compassion-based interventions, both face-to-face and in online format, can contribute to facilitating resilience in the face of adversity. Future research should further investigate the different ways in which self-compassion can promote resilience, taking into account both mental distress and mental well-being aspects of mental health