Living in a competitive city like Hong Kong, the society celebrates efficiency, productivity, achievements etc. Perhaps for a majority of us, always striving for better academic achievements or comparing career prospects, could be criticising ourselves day in and day out, affecting our mood and stress without even noticing.

In this talk, Dr Melissa Chan, Clinical Psychologist from Central Minds, discussed the concept of self-compassion as the antidote to self-criticism. The functions of the three emotion regulation systems, namely drive system, threat system and soothing system were explained to facilitate participants in acquiring strategies to cultivate self-compassion and be more nurturing to themselves, bringing a positive impact to our mood and promote growth in a more positive way.