Tagged: “break free from the past”

One more request about the reliability and validity of one of your forgiveness scales.  Can you recommend one article that addresses the psychometric properties of your self-forgiveness inventory?

Yes, and here is that reference:

Kim, J., Volk, F., & Enright, R.D. (2021). Validating the Enright Self-Forgiveness Inventory (ESFI). Current Psychology

Thank you for the information on the Enright Forgiveness Inventory short form. Do you have similar psychometric information for your Enright Group Forgiveness Inventory? I appreciate the help.

Yes, here is a journal article that addresses the measurement properties of the group forgiveness scale:

Enright, R.D., Johnson, J., Fu, N., Erzar, T., Hirshberg, M., Huang, T., Klatt, J., Lee, D., Boateng, B., Boggs, P., Hsiao, T.-E., Olson, C., Shu, M.L., Song, J., Wu, P., & Zhang ,B. (2020). Measuring intergroup forgiveness: The Enright Group Forgiveness Inventory. Peace and Conflict Studies, 27, 1-29.

I would like to use your Enright Forgiveness Inventory short form in my research.  Can you suggest one journal article that shows the reliability and validity of this scale?  If this can be in a variety of countries, this is all the better.  Thank you in advance.

Click here for a published journal article that shows the psychometric properties of this scale in different countries:

Enright, R., Rique, J., Lustosa, R., Song, M. J. Y., Komoski, M. C., Batool, I., Bolt, D. Sung, H. J., Huang, S. T., Park, H., Leer-Salvesen, P. E., Andrade, T., Naeem, A., Viray, J., Costuna, E. (2021). Validating the Enright Forgiveness Inventory – 30 (EFI-30): International studies. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 38, 113-123.

Forgive and forget.  I hear that a lot.  When you forgive, do you literally forget?

When you forgive, you do not develop moral amnesia.  You remember what happened, but you now remember in new ways, without the buildup of anger that persists.  So, think of forgiving as not literally forgetting, but as you look back you remember without all the pain and discontent.

I read where I can forgive in as little as a few hours.  I have been deeply hurt by one of my parents.  Will a few hours do it for me?

I do not recommend that you create the expectation that forgiveness, when you are deeply hurt by others, can be accomplished in a few hours.  As an analogy, suppose you break your leg.  You need time for that to heal, including time for rehabilitation.  Think of deep injustices against you as wounds of the heart.  These take time to heal and forgiveness is a process, that takes time, that can lead to that healing.