Forgiveness Intervention Paper

As I was reading the chapter on forgiveness in Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling by McMinn (2011), the personal life experience that jumped out to me was when I had to make the decision to truly forgive my ex-boyfriend and his parents for the emotional pain they caused me. After living in New Jersey for a month and spending time with my boyfriend and his family, working, and taking care of an elderly lady with dementia my world came crashing down on me. My ex-boyfriend’s parents discovered sin in his life and told me I could no longer pursue a relationship with him because of the sins he had committed. After finding out the sinful things my ex-boyfriend had done, I chose to forgive him. I also chose to give him a second chance at a relationship with me, but my effort to salvage our relationship was futile.

“Forgiveness, assert Fincham and his colleagues, can help restore more benevolent and cooperative goals to relationships” Everett L. Worthington, Jr.(2004). New Science of Forgiveness.

It is also vital to look at Wilson’s view on the practice of forgiveness and how if an individual decides to ignore it, it can place a road block in their process of change. She believes that God speaks about forgiveness for the following reasons:” (1) we are all sinners with whom to relate so we’ll need to become skillful forgivers (2) God makes forgiveness a centerpiece of our healing process because living in un-forgiveness is so much worse (Wilson, 2001).

were wronged - "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. In the New

Thematic Statement: Forgiving someone for their mistake can make yourself free of anger and bitterness.

Throughout life everyone has been in a situation where they were offended or they have offended someone else. Therefore, forgiving someone is therapeutic for the victim, and the offended. However, when someone is wronged, justice is what they seek. On the contrary, when people feel pain from being wronged, they experience an “injustice gap.” Worthington defines “injustice gap” as, “the difference between the way the person would like a transgression to be resolved, and the way things are perceived to be currently” (Worthington Jr, 2005, pg. 121).

Elements covered in this graduate student’s first critique of Effects of Forgiveness Therapy on Anger, Mood, and Vulnerability to Substance Use Among Inpatient Substance-Dependent Clients (Lin, Mack, Enright, Krahn, and Baskin, 2004) encompassed a compendium of its subject matter along with an evaluation of its first three components (e.g., abstract, literature review and research hypothesis). In its sequel, an analysis of the study’s participants along with an inspection of its procedure and instrumentation was offered. Within the third and final segment of this critique however, readers will find: (1) a scrutinization of

Forgiveness has been defined in many ways by psychologists and researchers with no one universal definition. Hill (as cited in Maltby, Day and Mackaskill 2001) state that it is widely agreed that forgiveness involves a willingness to abandon resentment, negative judgement and indifferent behaviour towards the person who has hurt them Although research is recent, from the last 15 years, it has helped develop our understanding of forgiveness . Research has shown that forgiveness gives positive mental health and prevents the development of mental disorders such as anxiety, depression and stress. Two major models of forgiveness are Enright’s model and Worthington’s (2001) pyramid model to REACH forgiveness. Both these models involve steps and

Enright and Reed’s (2006) article confirms that forgiveness is extremely important because it brings positive change from negative experiences. Forgiveness therapy does not mean that a person has to forget the abuse they experienced. It does not even mean that the person is looking to build a better relationship with the person that abused him or her but it does mean that the person has made a moral decision to have an attitude of benevolence which will improve all of the negative outcomes of the abuse. Accepting the fact that I have been done wrong and realizing that I cannot change what has already occurred leads me to only want to make sure the situation or a similar situation does not happen again. Choosing to forgive and let go of anger makes room for joy and cheerfulness.

This client was Christian and from my estimation now looking back was just beginning their walk with Christ and not on the same maturity level that I was at that time in my walk with Christ. At that time I knew how forgiveness first and foremost is obedience to God, and secondly how it can set you free from so many emotional problems, McMinn said, “Forgiveness, in its theological and spiritual context, is profound, life-giving, and transforming. When we remove the religious context and think of forgiveness only as a clinical technique, we risk losing the essence of forgiveness.” (2011, p. 254) After reading this chapter it made me re-live an area in which I was not fully equipped to help client maneuver their way through. This particular chapter has allowed me to see how vital forgiveness is in a therapeutic session, and how it must be used carefully. It is made me aware of how important my Christianity is to forgiveness, but also to assess the level my client is currently on before beginning a session on forgiveness. Reflection

The general topic of forgiveness has received a magnitude of attention and research on a conceptual level in recent years. Hall and Fincham consistently noted, however, that self-forgiveness had little to no empirical study or research documented and believe this is a critical piece to an individual’s overall emotional health. In an effort to stimulate additional research on the

Each session was conducted by the same interviewer, a licensed social worker with fifteen years’ experience in older adult healthcare needs. In addition, the information remains credible through the authors expertise in various domains. Hansen is the regional vice president of clinical operations at the Meriter Health Services Incorporated in Madison, Wisconsin. Enright is a professor in the department of education psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Education Psychology at the University of Minnesota in 1976, obtained a Bachelor’s of Art degree (BA) in Psychology at the university of Massachusetts-Westfield in 1973, and has an expertise in teaching courses in moral development with an emphasis on the psychology of forgiveness. Baskin is an associate professor in the department of Education Psychology at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee that achieved a PhD in Counselling Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2004, a Master’s degree (MS) in Counselling at California State University, a Bachelor’s of Science (BS) in Economic Development and Technology from the University of California, and has an expertise in the benefits of forgiveness on angry students. The final author, Klatt, is a professor in the department of Education Psychology at the University of

There is a new emotion-focused individual counseling intervention that was designed to increase self-forgiveness for past wrongdoing against another person. 26 adults (of which 21 completed) living in central Iowa participated in this study. The average age was 36, most were white, 2 were black, 2 latino, 1 asian. They indicated that they had a past regret of actions committed against another person that has left unresolved emotions. 6 had cases of abuse, 3 of relationship neglect, 2 of disrespect/humiliation, 2 of relationship abandonment, and 1 offense that did not fit any of the categories given. As soon as they were enrolled in the study they were randomly assigned to a delayed or immediate treatment condition. Those that were treated

To build on McCarley’s (2018) reference of positive emotions requires an analysis of different types of interventions to assist in facilitating forgiveness. When individuals feel unfairly treated, they may react with revenge or avoidance but under-utilize forgiveness as an option (Barclay & Saldanha, 2016). Further, research conducted by Barclay and Saldanha (2016) demonstrated

Individuals who were more likely to forgive were also seen to have higher levels of empathy. Empathy involves the thinking of the offender as a human and trying to understand what influenced their behavior. While also offering the offender compassion is seen to reduce the intense arousal and negative grudges while offering a more positive emotion towards the offender (Witvliet et al., 2001). This is seen to decrease the negative emotions that one feels towards another which will help them develop more positive emotions. With forgiveness there is also the connection of decreased chronic blaming, anger, hostility, increase in optimistic thinking, an increase in social support, and transcendent consciousness with forgiveness (Lawler et al., 2005). Forgiveness has a lot of benefits to an individual overall emotional well-being.