Self-Compassion Scale (Neff, 2003)

Please read each statement carefully before answering. To the left of each item, indicate how often you behave in the stated manner, using the following scale:

Almost never	Occasionally	About half the time	Fairly often	Almost always
1	2	3	4	5

Choose one: 1 – Almost Never 2 – Occasionally 3 – About half of the time 4 – Fairly Often 5 – Almost Always	1.	I’m disapproving and judgmental about my own flaws and inadequacies.
Choose one: 1 – Almost Never 2 – Occasionally 3 – About half of the time 4 – Fairly Often 5 – Almost Always	2.	When I’m feeling down I tend to obsess and fixate on everything that’s wrong.
Choose one: 1 – Almost Never 2 – Occasionally 3 – About half of the time 4 – Fairly Often 5 – Almost Always	3.	When things are going badly for me, I see the difficulties as part of life that everyone goes through.
Choose one: 1 – Almost Never 2 – Occasionally 3 – About half of the time 4 – Fairly Often 5 – Almost Always	4.	When I think about my inadequacies, it tends to make me feel more separate and cut off from the rest of the world.
Choose one: 1 – Almost Never 2 – Occasionally 3 – About half of the time 4 – Fairly Often 5 – Almost Always	5.	I try to be loving towards myself when I’m feeling emotional pain.
Choose one: 1 – Almost Never 2 – Occasionally 3 – About half of the time 4 – Fairly Often 5 – Almost Always	6.	When I fail at something important to me I become consumed by feelings of inadequacy.
Choose one: 1 – Almost Never 2 – Occasionally 3 – About half of the time 4 – Fairly Often 5 – Almost Always	7.	When I’m down and out, I remind myself that there are lots of other people in the world feeling like I am.
Choose one: 1 – Almost Never 2 – Occasionally 3 – About half of the time 4 – Fairly Often 5 – Almost Always	8.	When times are really difficult, I tend to be tough on myself.
Choose one: 1 – Almost Never 2 – Occasionally 3 – About half of the time 4 – Fairly Often 5 – Almost Always	9.	When something upsets me I try to keep my emotions in balance.
Choose one: 1 – Almost Never 2 – Occasionally 3 – About half of the time 4 – Fairly Often 5 – Almost Always	10.	When I feel inadequate in some way, I try to remind myself that feelings of inadequacy are shared by most people.
Choose one: 1 – Almost Never 2 – Occasionally 3 – About half of the time 4 – Fairly Often 5 – Almost Always	11.	I’m intolerant and impatient towards those aspects of my personality I don’t like.
Choose one: 1 – Almost Never 2 – Occasionally 3 – About half of the time 4 – Fairly Often 5 – Almost Always	12.	When I’m going through a very hard time, I give myself the caring and tenderness I need.
Choose one: 1 – Almost Never 2 – Occasionally 3 – About half of the time 4 – Fairly Often 5 – Almost Always	13.	When I’m feeling down, I tend to feel like most other people are probably happier than I am.
Choose one: 1 – Almost Never 2 – Occasionally 3 – About half of the time 4 – Fairly Often 5 – Almost Always	14.	When something painful happens I try to take a balanced view of the situation.
Choose one: 1 – Almost Never 2 – Occasionally 3 – About half of the time 4 – Fairly Often 5 – Almost Always	15.	I try to see my failings as part of the human condition.
Choose one: 1 – Almost Never 2 – Occasionally 3 – About half of the time 4 – Fairly Often 5 – Almost Always	16.	When I see aspects of myself that I don’t like, I get down on myself.
Choose one: 1 – Almost Never 2 – Occasionally 3 – About half of the time 4 – Fairly Often 5 – Almost Always	17.	When I fail at something important to me I try to keep things in perspective.
Choose one: 1 – Almost Never 2 – Occasionally 3 – About half of the time 4 – Fairly Often 5 – Almost Always	18.	When I’m really struggling, I tend to feel like other people must be having an easier time of it.
Choose one: 1 – Almost Never 2 – Occasionally 3 – About half of the time 4 – Fairly Often 5 – Almost Always	19.	I’m kind to myself when I’m experiencing suffering.
Choose one: 1 – Almost Never 2 – Occasionally 3 – About half of the time 4 – Fairly Often 5 – Almost Always	20.	When something upsets me I get carried away with my feelings.
Choose one: 1 – Almost Never 2 – Occasionally 3 – About half of the time 4 – Fairly Often 5 – Almost Always	21.	I can be a bit cold-hearted towards myself when I’m experiencing suffering.
Choose one: 1 – Almost Never 2 – Occasionally 3 – About half of the time 4 – Fairly Often 5 – Almost Always	22.	When I’m feeling down I try to approach my feelings with curiosity and openness.
Choose one: 1 – Almost Never 2 – Occasionally 3 – About half of the time 4 – Fairly Often 5 – Almost Always	23.	I’m tolerant of my own flaws and inadequacies.
Choose one: 1 – Almost Never 2 – Occasionally 3 – About half of the time 4 – Fairly Often 5 – Almost Always	24.	When something painful happens I tend to blow the incident out of proportion.
Choose one: 1 – Almost Never 2 – Occasionally 3 – About half of the time 4 – Fairly Often 5 – Almost Always	25.	When I fail at something that’s important to me, I tend to feel alone in my failure.
Choose one: 1 – Almost Never 2 – Occasionally 3 – About half of the time 4 – Fairly Often 5 – Almost Always	26.	I try to be understanding and patient towards those aspects of my personality I don’t like.

Scores will appear here after submitting answers.

Score interpretations:

Average overall self-compassion scores tend to be around 3.0 on the 1-5 scale, so you can interpret your overall score accordingly. As a rough guide, a score of 1-2.5 for your overall self-compassion score indicates you are low in self-compassion, 2.5-3.5 indicates you are moderate, and 3.5-5.0 means you are high. Remember that higher scores for the Self-Judgment, Isolation, and Over-Identification subscales indicate less self-compassion, while lower scores on these dimensions are indicative of more self-compassion (these subscales are automatically reverse-coded when your overall self-compassion score is calculated.)

Neff, 2003 (link to site)