Table 1: Comparative characteristics of anxiety, self-compassion and mindfulness.
| Salient anxiety characteristics | Facets of self-compassion according to (SCS) | Facets of mindfulness (KIMS) |
| Future oriented, consumes attentional resources | Mindful-present centered focus | Mindful-present centered focus |
| Unaccepting | Self-acceptance | Acceptance |
| Unaware, unconscious automatic pilot | Mindfulness | Acting with conscious awareness |
| Over identification with successes and failures | Not over-identifying with successes or failures | |
| Judgmental | Non-judgmental | |
| Self-evaluative | Self-kindness | |
| Self-criticism | Self-kindness and self-compassion | |
| Lack of awareness, or maladaptive response to, internal and external experiences | Acting with conscious awareness. Observing, noticing internal and external experiences. Able to describe and name emotions and experiences. |
|
| Isolation, self-focused | Connected common humanity, not isolated |
Words in bold represent specific measures from the Self-Compassion Survey (SCS) or the Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness (KIMS) that are associated with key indicators of anxiety.