Author Archive: directorifi

I am doing academic work on forgiveness and need an answer to this question: What is the first scientific study on forgiveness therapy ever published?

The first forgiveness therapy study (in which data were gathered and statistics applied to the results) ever published was by Hebl and Enright in 1993.  Here is the reference to that work:

Hebl, J. H., & Enright, R. D. (1993).  Forgiveness as a psychotherapeutic goal with elderly females. Psychotherapy, 30, 658-667.

Another question for my academic work:  Was the Hebl and Enright (1993) study the very first empirically-based publication on forgiveness or is there an earlier publication that uses research to examine forgiveness?

Yes, there is a research article published in 1989.  It is an empirically-based study that is not a forgiveness intervention.  Instead it is an examination of how children, adolescents, and adults think about forgiveness.  Data were collected and statistics applied to the responses.  This is the reference to that work:

Enright, R. D., Santos, M., & Al-Mabuk, R. (1989).  The adolescent as forgiver. Journal of Adolescence, 12, 95-110.

What is the difference between forgiving and accepting what happened?

When you forgive, you are engaging in a moral virtue in which you are choosing to be good to those who are not good to you.  When you accept that something bad happened to you, it is possible to do so without even caring about the one who created the difficult situation for you.  Acceptance can focus on adjusting to a situation; forgiveness focuses on goodness toward persons in particular, on those who acted badly toward you.

How can forgiveness induce hope in the one who forgives?

I think this occurs because the forgivers begin to realize that they can face unjust treatment in the future and they now have an effective way (forgiveness) of confronting the effects of the injustice.  Forgiveness allows people to move on well in life without getting immersed in bitterness.

What is your opinion of brief therapy when it comes to forgiveness therapy?

Short-term forgiveness interventions may be effective for those who are not deeply hurt, are not treated deeply unjustly, and who are not clinically compromised.  We have to be very careful in generalizing brief interventions to all people, especially those who are deeply hurting from deeply unfair treatment.  Those treated so unfairly will need forgiveness therapy for a longer time than a brief forgiveness intervention.