mental health Is Avoiding Other People’s Suffering Good for Your Mental Health?

But a recent study suggests that retreating from compassion in the name of safety may not protect us as we hope. Shutting off our compassionate response may threaten our mental health, the research team found, and fray the social connections that sustain our wellbeing.

This research shows the corrosive effect of suppressing our instinct to connect with others, says Leah Weiss, a founding faculty member of Stanford University’s compassion cultivation training program. “When we get into