Archive for November, 2022
It seems to me that this “giving of a gift” to those who hurt me is kind of ridiculous. They deserve correction, not admiration. Can you clarify this for me?
As people forgive, they are engaging in a moral virtue. All moral virtues center on goodness toward others for those other people’s sake. Part of the moral virtue of forgiveness is this gift-giving to the one who acted badly, as you point out. This gift-giving, we find in our research is a paradox in that, as forgivers reach out to the offending person, it is the forgivers who are healed.
What was your biggest surprise when you started to do research on forgiveness therapy?
I would say the biggest surprise was how effective forgiveness therapy is in the context of very deep trauma caused by other people’s unfairness. Forgiveness therapy seems to be even more effective in reducing clinical levels of anger, anxiety, and depression than other models of psychotherapy that preceded forgiveness therapy within the social sciences. As just one example, the Freedman and Enright (1996) study showed that incest survivors, upon forgiving, went from clinical levels of depression to non-depressed status and this continued at the one-year follow-up. The reference to this work is as follows:
Freedman, S. R., & Enright, R. D. (1996). Forgiveness as an intervention goal with incest survivors. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64(5), 983-992.
As another question that I have about forgiveness therapy, does the amount of time spent in this form of therapy matter? In other words, is longer better?
Yes, longer is better. Baskin and Enright (1994) showed that forgiveness therapy lasting 12 weeks or longer seems more optimal than short-term therapies. Longer therapies as more effective than short-term therapies also was supported by the meta-analysis by Aktar and Barlow. The references to these two journal articles are as follows:
Baskin, T.W., & Enright, R. D. (2004). Intervention studies on forgiveness: A meta-analysis. Journal of Counseling and Development, 82, 79-90.
Akhtar, S. & Barlow, J. (2018). Forgiveness therapy for the promotion of mental well-being: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Trauma, Violence, and Abuse, 19, 107-122.
You say that the biggest surprise you had when studying forgiveness therapy was its effectiveness when trauma is present in the participants. What was your second biggest surprise?
I think the second biggest surprise is that when people forgive and recover from the effects of trauma, they often develop a new purpose in life. That new purpose is to help others who also are hurting from other people’s mistreatment of them. This new purpose seems to give hope and vitality to those who were carrying a large emotional burden within them.
IFI Earns “Top Website 2022” Award
The International Forgiveness Institute’s website, a global resource for Forgiveness Education and Forgiveness Therapy information, has been named one of the Internet’s best websites of 2022 by TheGoodEstate.
The TGE-AWARD 🏆 – The Best Websites of 2022
Officially called “The TGE-Award,” the annual recognition is based on a point system that evaluates four unique site elements:
- User Experience (UX) / Usability;
- Privacy & Security;
- Information Content & Research; and,
- Services & Communication.
The IFI earned a remarkable 39 out of a possible 40 points in the multi-stage selection, survey, and rating procedure that was conducted by a team of US web experts. Only premier websites selected for the award can display the “Top Website 2022” quality emblem. Newspapers, trade magazines, portals, and foreign websites are not eligible for the award.
The IFI website is one of the most expansive forgiveness resources that exists anywhere in the world. Originally developed and moved online in 2011, the IFI website’s current iteration was built and customized two years ago by Meegaan Technologies, a website and mobile app design and development company in New Delhi, India. In addition to a robust index of 67 unique subject pages, the website features more than 2,273 separate blog posts.
For details about The Best Websites of 2022 Award selection process and evaluation criteria, visit TheGoodEstate website—a multi-thematic review website where users can find high quality information about all kinds of digital and physical products. TheGoodEstate is a project of Global Commerce Media.
