Free self-tests · 3 min · 12 questions

Self-compassion test: how do you treat yourself when things go wrong?

Self-compassion is the way you treat yourself when you fail, struggle or feel not good enough. It includes kindness towards yourself, a sense that everyone struggles, and the ability to notice painful feelings without being swallowed by them.

This 12-question short form of Kristin Neff's scale gives one overall score. It is a description of a habit, and habits can change. It is not a measure of your worth and not a diagnosis of anything.

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HOW I TYPICALLY ACT TOWARDS MYSELF IN DIFFICULT TIMES. Please read each statement carefully before answering. Indicate how often you behave in the stated manner, using the following scale:

1. When I fail at something important to me I become consumed by feelings of inadequacy.
2. I try to be understanding and patient towards those aspects of my personality I don’t like.
3. When something painful happens I try to take a balanced view of the situation.
4. When I’m feeling down, I tend to feel like most other people are probably happier than I am.
5. I try to see my failings as part of the human condition.
6. When I’m going through a very hard time, I give myself the caring and tenderness I need.
7. When something upsets me I try to keep my emotions in balance.
8. When I fail at something that’s important to me, I tend to feel alone in my failure
9. When I’m feeling down I tend to obsess and fixate on everything that’s wrong.
10. When I feel inadequate in some way, I try to remind myself that feelings of inadequacy are shared by most people.
11. I’m disapproving and judgmental about my own flaws and inadequacies.
12. I’m intolerant and impatient towards those aspects of my personality I don’t like.

Kristin Neff, who developed the scale, says there are no clinical norms for self-compassion. The three bands above are her suggested rough guide, not cut-offs, and the short form is only reliable as an overall score, so the six parts are best not read on their own.

A lower score can be uncomfortable to see. It is common in people who were praised for being helpful, quiet or high-achieving, and in women raised to put family needs first. Harshness towards yourself often began as a way to stay safe or belong.

If low self-compassion comes with persistent low mood, hopelessness or thoughts of harming yourself, please speak to a GP, or see the helplines page for free support now.

In person-centred counselling, the counsellor offers acceptance without conditions, and over time many people find they can begin to offer some of that to themselves. I am a trainee counsellor working under supervision. You can read about people-pleasing, family duty and the self, or book a first session if you would like to talk.

How the SCS-SF score works

12 questions, scored as the average of your answers; 6 are reverse-scored. These are the score ranges this page uses to describe your result. Where the questionnaire's authors publish official cut-offs, the ranges follow them; the sources are listed below.

Overall score
ScoreRange
Lower self-compassion1 to 2.49
Moderate self-compassion2.5 to 3.5
Higher self-compassion3.51 to 5

About this questionnaire

Self-Compassion Scale Short Form (SCS-SF) by Filip Raes, Elizabeth Pommier, Kristin D. Neff and Dinska Van Gucht (2011).

Raes, F., Pommier, E., Neff, K. D., & Van Gucht, D. (2011). Construction and factorial validation of a short form of the Self-Compassion Scale. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 18(3), 250–255. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.702

Used in line with the published terms of use.

Questions people ask

What is a good self-compassion score?

There isn't a 'good' score in the clinical sense. Neff suggests treating 1 to 2.49 as low, 2.5 to 3.5 as moderate and 3.51 to 5 as high, as a rough guide only. The score is most useful for noticing patterns and change over time.

Is self-compassion the same as self-esteem?

No. Self-esteem is about how you rate yourself, often compared with others. Self-compassion is about how you treat yourself when you fall short. You can have high self-esteem and still be very harsh with yourself after a mistake, and the reverse.

Can you become more self-compassionate?

Research on self-compassion suggests it can grow with practice and support, because it is partly a learned habit. Many people find that being met with warmth by someone else, in friendship or in counselling, makes it easier to offer the same warmth inwards.

Why aren't the six subscales shown separately?

Each part of the short form has only two questions, so the scale's author advises against interpreting them on their own. The overall score is reliable and correlates very closely with the full 26-item scale.

Sources

  1. Self-Compassion Scale Short Form: permission letter, scoring key and norms (self-compassion.org)
  2. Raes, Pommier, Neff and Van Gucht (2011), Construction and factorial validation of a short form of the Self-Compassion Scale

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