Your Amazon Prime 30-day FREE trial includes:
Delivery Options | ![]() |
Without Prime |
---|---|---|
Standard Delivery | FREE delivery | From £2.99* |
Premium Delivery | FREE delivery | £4.99/delivery |
Same-Day Delivery (on eligible orders over £20 to selected postcodes) Details | FREE delivery | £5.99/delivery |
Unlimited Premium Delivery is available to Amazon Prime members. To join, select "Yes, I want a free trial with FREE Premium Delivery on this order." above the Add to Basket button and confirm your Amazon Prime free trial sign-up.
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, you will be charged £95/year for Prime (annual) membership or £8.99/month for Prime (monthly) membership.
Buy new:
-10% £11.65£11.65
Dispatches from: Amazon Sold by: Amazon
Save with Used - Very Good
£7.72£7.72
FREE delivery 19 - 20 March
Dispatches from: awesome_books_001 Sold by: awesome_books_001

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer – no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Mindful Compassion Paperback – 2 Mar. 2015
Purchase options and add-ons
Based on the latest work from Professor Paul Gilbert OBE, bestselling author of The Compassionate Mind, and Buddhist expert Choden.
Professor Gilbert has spent the past twenty years developing a new therapy called Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) which has an gained international following. In recent years, mindfulness is being used increasingly to treat common mental health problems such as depression, stress and stress-related insomnia.
In this ground-breaking new book, Professor Gilbert, along with his co-author Choden, combines the best of Compassion-Focused Therapy with the most effective mindfulness techniques. The result is an extremely effective approach to overcoming everyday emotional and psychological problems and improving one's sense of wellbeing.
- Print length528 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherRobinson
- Publication date2 Mar. 2015
- Dimensions12.7 x 3.5 x 19.7 cm
- ISBN-101472119908
- ISBN-13978-1472119902
Frequently bought together

More items to explore
Product description
Book Description
From the Back Cover
'A book full of wisdom that will be a wonderful resource for a whole generation.'
Mark Williams, author of Mindfulness
This important book explores how the way our minds evolved can cause us to have difficult emotions and explains how to respond wisely and compassionately to them and to the stresses of our everyday lives.
Research shows that the ability to develop mindful compassion towards oneself and others has a profound impact on our minds, health and happiness, and on those around us.
Paul Gilbert OBE is a clinical psychologist, the author of the internationally bestselling books The Compassionate Mind and Overcoming Depression, and a pioneer in the field of Compassion Focused Therapy.
Choden is a former Buddhist monk and now teaches mindfulness and compassion programmes internationally.
About the Author
Formally a monk for seven years within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, CHODEN completed a three year, three month retreat in 1997 and has been a practicing Buddhist since 1985. Born as Sean McGovern, he is originally from South Africa where he trained as a lawyer and learned meditation under the guidance of Rob Nairn, an internationally renowned Buddhist teacher.
Choden is now involved in developing secular mindfulness and compassion programmes drawing upon the wisdom and methods of the Buddhist tradition, as well as contemporary insights from psychology and neuroscience. He is an honorary fellow of the University of Aberdeen and teaches on their Postgraduate Study Programme in Mindfulness (MSc) that is the first of its kind to include compassion in its curriculum. He lives on the Isle of Arran.
Product details
- Publisher : Robinson (2 Mar. 2015)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 528 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1472119908
- ISBN-13 : 978-1472119902
- Dimensions : 12.7 x 3.5 x 19.7 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 172,318 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 169 in Evolutionary Psychology
- 223 in Compulsive Behaviour
- 323 in Mood Disorders (Books)
- Customer reviews:
About the author

Paul Gilbert, FBPsS, PhD, OBE is Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Derby and, until his retirement from the NHS in 2016, was Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the Derbyshire Health Care Foundation Trust. He has researched evolutionary approaches to psychopathology for over 40 years with a special focus on the roles of mood, shame and self-criticism in various mental health difficulties for which Compassion Focused Therapy was developed. He was made a Fellow of the British Psychological Society in 1993. In 2003 Paul was president of the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy. 2002-2004 he was a member of the first British Governments’ NICE guidelines for depression. He has written/edited 21 books and over 200 papers. In 2006 he established the Compassionate Mind Foundation as an international charity with the mission statement: "To promote wellbeing through the scientific understanding and application of compassion" (http://www.compassionatemind.co.uk).
On leaving the health service in 2016 he established the Centre for Compassion Research, of at the University of Derby and has been awarded honorary professorships at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, the University of Coimbra in Portuhal, and the University of Queensland in Australia. He has written and edited many books on psychology, therapy, and compassion. His latest book is Living Like Crazy.
He was awarded an OBE by the Queen in March 2011 for services to mental health.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings, help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyses reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book enlightening and thought-provoking. They describe it as an interesting take on Buddhist-type mindful practices that blends evolutionary theory. The book is accessible and straightforward to read, with easy access to sections and layman's language making it more accessible to a general audience.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Select to learn more
Customers find the book helpful and enlightening. They say it's thought-provoking with an interesting take on Buddhist-type mindful practices. Readers describe it as a comprehensive guide for humanity written by experienced mindfulness teachers.
"...it does evolutionary theory, neuroscience and, essentially, Buddhist meditation methods - though accessible to anyone whatever his or her background...." Read more
"...way that the Author develops both the reasons and the ways to exercise Mindful Compassion...." Read more
"...who reads this book will find it of consolation and encouragement on their journey through life." Read more
"A book full of wisdom, and practical advice. The combination of science and ancient wisdom has provided a wonderful balance much needed for our day..." Read more
Customers find the book accessible and user-friendly. They say it's straightforward to read, with layman's language making it more accessible to a general audience. The processes are widely applicable to meditation practice.
"...and, essentially, Buddhist meditation methods - though accessible to anyone whatever his or her background...." Read more
"...Many of the processes are more widely applicable to our general meditation practice. Excellent - I'm working through this thoroughly..." Read more
"...The book is brilliantly written - well paced, friendly and accessible, rigorous and wise." Read more
"...- this I would - Its in layman's language making it more accessible to a general audience. I enjoyed the political commentary too!..." Read more
Top reviews from United Kingdom
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 August 2013This is an an extremely interesting take on Buddhist-type mindful practices, blending as it does evolutionary theory, neuroscience and, essentially, Buddhist meditation methods - though accessible to anyone whatever his or her background. In the first part of the book we have an explanation of the theory behind the practices that are outlined in the second half. The first part is concerned with understanding the nature of the human person and in particular how the mind (though the writer tends to refer to the 'brain') works. I found when I read the first part so much ringing true. The authors speak of the various drives that impact on the human person, influencing how we feel and behave. None of these are negative in themselves. None of them are caused by our own wilfulness as such but are rather the by-product of millions of years of evolution. However, many are less useful now in our modern context and we have become 'victims' to some of these drives. Society has so many problems because our minds are imbalanced in favour of certain tendencies. We are driven for instance by competitive and stimulative drives rather than the innate faculty for contentment. What is needed is to restore balance. It sounds a bit like good old Aristotle and eudaimonia, the notion that humans need to create a harmonic society for human flourishing
The authors offer practical solutions regarding how to balance these drives to make us more happy and content. Many of these practices are taken from the Buddhist tradition yet they bear a resemblance also to traditional Christian practice, such as the Ignatian examen of consciousness.
I will return to this book as it is so full of interesting thoughts and ideas. The important thing is however that it is not abstract but eminently practical. It really helps one understand oneself and there are good guided meditations within the volume to introduce the reader to the mindful methods.
The only criticism I would make of the book is, as I have already mentioned, that it refers to us as though we are a 'brain'. This for me is too narrow. Neuroscience has certainly not solved the mind/body relationship. Eliminative materialism is assumed rather than proven. There is also a sense in which the authors provide us with a machine-like model of the human person: One's problems can be resolved if one switches off one part and turns on another. I personally don't like this as a model though I can see that it is useful.
In any case, the language of the text might appeal to many people today as we have got used to thinking of ourselves as essentially physical brains. The important things are the insights the authors offer into the way we could and should live our lives. The book seems to be so useful that I can overcome my philosophical reservations.
Therefore, I would really recommend this book. It helps you to understand yourself and offers practical ways of developing yourself - and as a consequence, the whole world - for the better.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 June 2023I am deeply impressed by the way that the Author develops both the reasons and the ways to exercise Mindful Compassion. Many of the processes are more widely applicable to our general meditation practice. Excellent - I'm working through this thoroughly...
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 April 2014Mindfulness is so 'sexy' at the moment that I really think there is a danger of oversell, that some will come to think of it as a panacea for all human distress, and then become disillusioned when they find that it isn't.
Paul Gilbert very carefully and caringly explaining why mindfulness alone is probably not what most people are looking for. And how mindfulness can so easily, and subtly, be hijacked by our 'achievement' mode of being which is so widely accepted in the West.
Mindfulness comes from Buddhism, and as such has several key assumptions about ethics intertwined within it. If we try to practice mindfulness without embracing those ethics, and fully understanding them, it's likley that we'll end up disappointed.
Gilbert overlays Buddhist teachings with scientific understandings of how our brains work - 'tricky brain' he terms it! It makes so much sense, and understanding the ways in which our brains can so easily lead us down unhelpful paths through no fault of our own, makes embracing compassion for ourselevs and others so much easier. Mindfulness becomes harnessed to the broader ethical stance of compassion for self and others - and thus becomes a much more reasonable proposition for a Western audience. Gilbert actively warns us against extreme forms of mindfulness meditation - such as going on extended lone retreats - and emphasises the importance of relationship in shaping our brains in helpful ways.
I have enjoyed reading this book and found it very compassionate in its tone. I've given it 4 start because I do find the author's style a little repetitive: it's probably helpful for some, but I just wished, at points, he'd get a bit of a move on! Also, I'd have loved a CD of the compassionate exercises: reading about them is not the same as being guided through them, and as he stresses the importance of a warm voice towards ourselves and others, it would have been nice to hear him speaking warmly to us! Maybe a project for another book?
Overall, helpful, enlightening and encouraging. I hope that everyone who reads this book will find it of consolation and encouragement on their journey through life.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 April 2023A book full of wisdom, and practical advice. The combination of science and ancient wisdom has provided a wonderful balance much needed for our day and age. Thank you!
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 January 2017Back in the early 1990s I was recommended 'Depression:the Evolution of Powerlessness' by one of Paul Gilbert's former students. I found it to provide a stimulating perspective not only upon depression but on the general evolution of brain and mind. I was a bit wary of buying the present book even with that former respect. At the back of my mind I was resistant to the ubiquity of 'mindfulness' and projects to unite Buddhist wisdom with contemporary western psychology which are to be noted more for their publishing succeses than for their usefulness. I needn't have worried. The two authors critique clearly in Part 1 of the book the potential dangers and misuses of mindfulness and warn against seeing compassion as a fuzzy warm thing; indeed, compassion is shown to be hard, requiring skills and discipline. I would recommend readers to take it slowly, and to give proper time to the suggested reflections and practices (hard as this is in a culture where we are addicted to speed and getting results fast). The book is brilliantly written - well paced, friendly and accessible, rigorous and wise.
Top reviews from other countries
-
paolo cristoforiReviewed in Italy on 26 January 2025
5.0 out of 5 stars Ottimo libro
Bellissimo libro e molto facile da mettere in pratica.
-
CORSANReviewed in Spain on 24 October 2021
5.0 out of 5 stars Excelente libro la terapia centrada en la compasión la recomiendo mucho
Estoy aprendiendo la terapia centrada en la compasión. Y este libro es muy recomendado. Si sabes o no sabes del tema te lleva a conceptos muy importantes sobre crecimiento interior y ser una mejor persona
- Andrew HallahanReviewed in Australia on 16 November 2019
5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful and engaging
This thoughtful, clear and concise book articulates the connection between modern psychology, ancient Buddhist thought and how to apply these to improve our lives. I found it highly practical and helpful.
- j. anonymousReviewed in the United States on 16 February 2014
5.0 out of 5 stars Good Introduction...step by step...to Mindfulness and Compassionate Meditation
This is an excellant read. A bit repetitive and long but probably to drive home the numerous points being made. The first half seems to show how the mind works and develops and the second half is more about how to incorporate mindfulness and compassionate meditation. It starts off slow and gradually buils with the exercises given so that you can go at your own pace and work on issues that may come up. Highly recommended reading.
-
LAURA AspromonteReviewed in Italy on 27 July 2023
5.0 out of 5 stars teoria compassione
esercizio inglese e fonte autore teoria