What is the difference between forgiveness therapy and a more traditional approach that focuses on the control of one’s anger, such as through relaxation training or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in which anger is controlled by how one thinks about a challenging situation?
Traditional approaches to treating anger focus specifically on the symptom of anger itself. You can see this clearly in the relaxation method. The person relaxes muscles so that the physical tightness and the feeling of anger can lessen. In forgiveness therapy, the focus is not on the symptom of anger. Instead, it is on the person who acted unfairly. As the client sees a vulnerable person (who acted badly), even a wounded person who displaced his own anger onto the client, then the anger has a tendency to diminish. In summary, traditional approaches focus on symptoms. Forgiveness therapy puts the focus on the other person as a person and this helps with anger reduction.
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