Blair Burnette

Paranjothy and Wade's (2024) meta‐analysis revealed that disordered eating was robustly and consistently associated with greater self‐criticism and lower self‐compassion across samples. It is well known that even evidence‐based treatments for eating disorders (EDs) do not produce long‐lasting effects for many patients. Additionally, it is unclear whether existing “mainstream” evidence‐based ED treatments effectively reduce shame and self‐criticism and increase self‐compassion, even when they intend to do so. In this commentary, we assert that Paranjothy and Wade's (2024) findings should inform the integration of self‐compassion interventions within ED treatment. We argue that shame, a related but distinct construct, should be strongly considered as a primary intervention target in ED interventions that seek to reduce self‐criticism and increase self‐compassion. We hypothesize that directly addressing shame and bolstering self‐compassion at the start of ED treatment may foster higher engagement and more durable effects. We introduce the potential for adjunctive self‐compassion interventions to reduce shame and self‐criticism, and enhance self‐compassion, alongside or within existing ED treatments. Because self‐criticism and shame are shared correlates of EDs and commonly co‐occurring psychopathology, we contend with the possibility that self‐compassion interventions may produce transdiagnostic effects. Shame, self‐criticism, and self‐compassion are important intervention targets to explore in future research.