Forgiven.

The author presents a poem about forgiveness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Psychological interventions to promote self-forgiveness: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Being able to forgive one's own wrongdoings improves the health and well-being of a person. People find it difficult to forgive themselves due to different reasons. It is essential to enhance the ability to accept one's deeds and thereby enhance self-forgiveness. The current systematic review's objective is to comprehend the application and efficiency of numerous interventions that improve self-forgiveness. METHODS: The search was done on electronic databases such as PubMed, ERIC, Web of Science, PsycNet, Science Direct, and Google Scholar. The initial search yielded 399 articles. After the duplicate removal, 19 articles met the eligibility criteria. Two studies were identified through related references. Thus, 21 articles were finalized for review. The study adhered to the PRISMA recommendations for systematic reviews. RESULTS: The 21 finalized articles varied in method, participants, research design, duration, measurement tools used, and observed outcomes. Thirteen of the 21 finalized articles followed interventions specifically designed to promote self-forgiveness. Interventions are seen to be applied at both individual and group levels. CONCLUSION: The review categorizes the interventions into self-directed and group. The self-directed interventions, notably those based on Enright's process model, demonstrate its efficiency in nurturing self-forgiveness. Self-forgiveness interventions are also found to be effective in promoting other positive psychological and clinical variables. Further implications and future research avenues are outlined.

Forgiveness and well-being in mothers of children with disabilities.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the correlations between forgiveness and well-being in mothers of children with disabilities, considering the moderating role of contextual factors. BACKGROUND: Well-being in mothers of children with disabilities is associated with coping with the numerous and unique challenges of motherhood. These are often accompanied by a sense of guilt, harm, and shame. Forgiveness can play an important role in lowering these negative emotions. METHOD: The research was conducted with 174 mothers of children with disabilities, using the Emotional Forgiveness Scale; the Decision to Forgive Scale; and the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire. Contextual factorssuch as: severity of transgression, apology, and the quality of the relationship with the offender were also measured. Moderation analyses were used to examine the associations between the variables. RESULTS: Decisional and emotional forgiveness correlated positively with well-being. Contextual factors moderated only the relationship between emotional forgiveness and well-being. Severity of the transgression and apology had a moderating effect in the case of the Presence of positive emotions, and relationship quality in the case of Reduction of negative emotions. CONCLUSIONS: The well-being of mothers of children with disabilities is associated with both decisional and emotional forgiveness. Contextual factors are an important moderator of the relationship between emotional forgiveness and well-being in these mothers. IMPLICATIONS: Information about the importance of the relationship between forgiveness and well-being can be used to design therapeutic programs and programs supporting mothers of children with disabilities in coping with difficulties and achieving well-being. Such programs can incorporate, for example, forgiveness training.

Self-Compassion and Self-Forgiveness in Alcohol Risk, Treatment and Recovery: A Systematic Review.

INTRODUCTION: Self-compassion and self-forgiveness are two self-focused, positive coping approaches that may reduce risk of problem drinking and/or aid in treatment/recovery from alcohol use disorder. The present systematic review aimed to evaluate support for the unique and complementary roles of self-compassion and self-forgiveness in alcohol outcomes. METHODS: A systematic literature search yielded 18 studies examining self-compassion, 18 studies examining self-forgiveness and 1 study examining both constructs in alcohol outcomes. RESULTS: Findings suggest greater self-compassion and self-forgiveness relate to lower likelihood of problem drinking. Self-forgiveness was considerably more researched in treatment/recovery outcomes than self-compassion; self-forgiveness-based interventions appear able to improve drinking-adjacent outcomes, and self-forgiveness may increase across various alcohol treatments. Finally, research suggests that associations of self-compassion and/or self-forgiveness with alcohol outcomes could be driven by numerous factors, including coping-motivated drinking, depression, psychache, social support perceptions, mental health status and/or psychiatric distress. CONCLUSIONS: Self-compassion and self-forgiveness both appear protective against harmful alcohol outcomes. Nevertheless, many questions remain about the role of self-forgiveness and, particularly, self-compassion in alcohol treatment and recovery outcomes. Future research should examine whether targeted interventions and/or adjunctive therapeutic supports designed to increase self-compassion or self-forgiveness can reduce alcohol use disorder symptoms to facilitate alcohol treatment and recovery success.

Burden and quality of life of family caregivers of Alzheimer's disease patients: the role of forgiveness as a coping strategy.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the variables that  were associated, contributed and moderated quality of life (QoL) and burden in family caregivers. METHODS: A total of 130 participants were evaluated using the following instruments: Depression, Anxiety and Distress Scale; Index of Family Relations; Heartland Forgiveness Scale; Burden Interview Scale; Short Form Health Survey. RESULTS: Being a younger caregiver, less distress, better family relationships and greater use of forgiveness were associated with more QoL. Also, family caregivers who chosethe caregiving role, less distress, better family relationships and greater use of forgiveness showed lower levels of burden. Age, distress and forgiveness contributed to QoL. In turn, the choice to become a family caregiver, distress, and forgiveness contributed to burden. Forgiveness played a moderating role in the relationship between family relationships and burden. CONCLUSION: Based on the results, there is a need to intervene in older family caregivers, particularly those who did not choose to become a caregiver, who report greater distress, have worse family relationships, and display less use of forgiveness, in order to decrease their burden and promote QoL.

Spiritually Integrated Group Psychotherapy for First Responders: Forgiveness, Trauma, and Alcohol Use.

First responders (e.g. firefighters, law enforcement, paramedics, corrections officers) experience high rates of comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD). Despite the relevance of both spirituality and forgiveness to PTSD and AUD among first responders, spiritually integrated group interventions for this population are rare. This article discusses a forgiveness session of a spiritually integrated group psychotherapy protocol for first responders (SPIRIT-FR) in acute psychiatric care. This brief group psychotherapy intervention includes (a) psychoeducation about the intersection of PTSD, AUD, and forgiveness (b) discussion of the relevance of forgiveness to PTSD and AUD, and (c) the integration of spiritual beliefs and behaviors to move toward forgiveness. We discuss relevant clinical theory as well as the potential clinical application of this protocol.

Beyond Parental Acceptance and Rejection: A Commentary on the Findings From Empirical Studies on Forgiveness and Vengeance in the Muslim World.

Drawing on the framework of interpersonal acceptance-rejection theory (IPARTheory), this special issue edited by Ronald P. Rohner, Sumbleen Ali, and Jennifer E. Lansford explores forgiveness and vengeance within the context of the Muslim world. Examination of the precursors of forgiveness and vengeance holds significance because vengeance typically correlates with adverse physical and psychological health outcomes. We suggest ways to advance research outlined in the special issue, such as assessing cross-cultural invariance and using diverse research designs. Moreover, increasing the diversity of socioeconomic status in studies conducted in the Muslim world and exploring hypotheses in high-income countries are necessary for contextually nuanced research. Overall, this special issue offers valuable insights into the dynamics of forgiveness and vengeance and highlights the role of culture and gender on psychological well-being across diverse contexts.

Do Forgiveness Campaign Activities Improve Forgiveness, Mental Health, and Flourishing?

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of a forgiveness public health intervention at promoting forgiveness, mental health, and flourishing. Methods: Colombian students (N = 2,878) at a private, nonreligious university were exposed to a 4-week forgiveness community campaign and were assessed pre- and post-campaign. Results: Forgiveness, mental health, and flourishing outcomes showed improvements after the campaign. On average, participants reported engaging in 7.18 (SD = 3.99) of the 16 types of campaign activities. The number of types of campaign activities that participants engaged in evidenced a positive linear association with forgiveness, although some activities were more popular than others and some activities were more strongly associated with increased forgiveness. For depression, anxiety, and flourishing, engaging in more activities was generally associated with greater improvements, but the patterns were less consistent relative to forgiveness. Conclusion: This forgiveness public health intervention effectively promoted forgiveness, mental health, and flourishing. Effective campaigns in diverse communities involve promoting mental and physical health through forgiveness. However, recent conflict may hinder acceptance, necessitating political capital for leadership advocating forgiveness initiatives.

Spontaneous brain activity associated with individual differences in decisional and emotional forgiveness.

Previous studies have explored the neural bases of forgiveness, however, the neural associations of decisional and emotional forgiveness remain unclear. Regional homogeneity (ReHo) and functional connectivity (FC) measured by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) were used to investigate the neural associations of individual differences in decisional and emotional forgiveness among healthy volunteers (256 participants, 85 males). The results of the ReHo analysis showed that decisional forgiveness was positively correlated with the left inferior parietal lobule (IPL). Furthermore, emotional forgiveness was positively correlated with the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and left supramarginal gyrus (SMG). The results of the FC analysis showed that decisional forgiveness was positively associated with the FC strength between the left IPL and left middle frontal gyrus (MFG) and negatively correlated with the FC strength among the left IPL, right superior temporal gyrus (STG), and left SMG. Furthermore, there was a significant positive correlation between emotional forgiveness and FC strength between the left SMG and right IPL. These findings suggest an association between decisional and emotional forgiveness and spontaneous brain activity in brain regions related to empathy, emotion regulation, and cognitive control.

A practice-based study of relational virtues and alliance correspondence in psychodynamic psychotherapy.

OBJECTIVE: Treatment outcome monitoring typically emphasizes pathology. In contrast, we responded to the need to establish psychodynamic psychotherapy as evidence-based by modeling changes in gratitude and forgiveness. METHOD: We utilized a practice-based research design involving non-manualized outpatient treatment. We employed a longitudinal mixture modeling approach to evaluate treatment effectiveness. We did so by testing the theorized role for relational virtues (i.e., gratitude, forgiveness) as signs of progress in psychodynamic treatment, with relational virtues referring to the application of character strengths to specific situations. We modeled clients' self-reported level on the virtues as a joint process over five time points, and examined the influence of early treatment alliance correspondence on patterns of change using a sample of outpatient clients (N = 185; Mage = 40.12; 60% female; 74.1% White). RESULTS: A 3-class solution best fit the data, with one class exhibiting growth in gratitude and forgiveness, improved symptoms, and a greater likelihood of symptom improvement relative to well-being gains. Alliance correspondence predicted the classes of change patterns, with greater similarity between clinicians' and clients' perceptions about the alliance predicting greater likelihood of belonging to the subgroup showing highest levels of virtues and well-being, lowest symptoms, and improved well-being. CONCLUSION: Clinical implications involve monitoring gratitude and forgiveness as signs of progress and navigating the dialectic between implicit alliance processes and explicit virtue interventions. The former involves nurturing a strong alliance and repairing ruptures, whereas the latter involves direct in-session conversation and/or the practice of virtue interventions in and/or outside of session.

Associations between forgiveness and physical and mental health in the context of long COVID.

OBJECTIVE: Forgiveness has been positively associated with health in those with functional disorders. This cross-sectional study examined the relationships among dimensions of forgiveness and physical and mental health in individuals with and without long COVID. METHODS: Adults (N = 4316) in the United States took part in an online survey study detailing long COVID presence, physical and mental health, and trait forgiveness. T-tests were performed to assess differences in types of trait forgiveness between individuals with and without long COVID. Linear regression models assessed the contribution of demographic covariates and forgiveness subscales to the physical and mental health of individuals with and without long COVID. RESULTS: Of 4316 participants, 379 (8.8%) reported current long COVID. Participants were an average age of 43.7, and most identified as female (51.9%), white (87.8%), and non-Hispanic/Latino (86.6%). Individuals with long COVID reported significantly less forgiveness of self (p < 0.001, d = 0.33), forgiveness of others (p = 0.004, d = 0.16), and forgiveness of situations (p < 0.001, d = 0.34) than those without long COVID. Among the long COVID sample, forgiveness of self and situations were positively associated with mental health (p < 0.05), but not physical health (p > 0.05). Forgiveness of others was negatively associated with both physical and mental health (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Forgiveness may be an important consideration in understanding health among individuals with long COVID, emphasizing the importance of developing a multifaceted understanding of the condition.

Expanding the cross-cultural validity of the Enright Forgiveness Inventory short form.

This research assessed the cross-cultural validity and internal consistency of the Enright Forgiveness Inventory short form (EFI-30). A total of 1677 people across four countries (United States, the Philippines, China and Saudi Arabia) participated in the study. Data analysis relied on multigroup confirmatory factor analysis and assessments of internal consistency. The results indicated that the EFI-30 has the same structure and factor loadings in the four countries and that internal consistency for the EFI-30 factors was >0.80 in the four countries. The discrimination values suggest that the instrument can differentiate people with different levels of forgiveness. The analyses in this study indicate that the EFI-30 is a valid and reliable assessment of cognition, behaviour and affect related to forgiveness in the United States, the Philippines, China and Saudi Arabia. Clinicians working in these countries can confidently use this shorter version of the EFI to measure forgiveness.

Relations among Memories of Parental Acceptance-Rejection, Psychological (Mal)Adjustment, Forgiveness, and Vengeance among Iranian Adults.

The study investigated relations among adults' memories of parental acceptance-rejection in childhood and adults' current dispositions toward forgiveness and vengeance, as mediated by psychological (mal)adjustment. Data were collected from 258 adults (female = 183, Age range = 17-47 years; Mage = 39; SD = 11.4). Measures used were the short forms of the maternal and paternal Adult Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaires (PARQ), the short form of the Adult Personality Assessment Questionnaire (PAQ), the Heartland Forgiveness Scale (HFS), the Vengeance Scale (VS-10), and a Personal Information Form (PIF). Results showed that maternal and paternal rejection was positively associated with psychological maladjustment and negatively correlated with forgiveness for both men and women. Moreover, psychological maladjustment showed a negative relation with forgiveness and a positive relation with vengeance. Findings revealed that parental (maternal and paternal) rejection was not significantly associated with vengeance for men. However, maternal (not paternal) rejection was significantly associated with a vengeance for women. Path analysis revealed a significant indirect effect of maternal and paternal rejection on forgiveness and vengeance through psychological maladjustment. Results found no significant gender differences in the path analyses. Findings are discussed considering the Iranian culture and religious beliefs. Implications of the results and future research directions are discussed.

Relations of Parental Acceptance-Rejection and Psychological (Mal)Adjustment with Forgiveness and Vengeance among Bangladeshi Young Adults.

The study investigated whether adults' memories of parental acceptance-rejection in childhood predict their current levels of forgiveness and vengeance as mediated by psychological (mal)adjustment. The data were collected from 252 young adults (Women = 137, Men = 115, Age range = 18 - 22 years; Mage = 19.42; SD = 0.99). Measures used were the Adult Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire (PARQ) short form for fathers and mothers, the Adult Personality Assessment Questionnaire (PAQ) short form for adults, the Heartland Forgiveness Scale (HFS), the Vengeance Scale (VS-10), and the Personal Information Form. Mediation analysis indicated that memories of maternal and paternal rejection predicted vengeance as mediated by psychological maladjustment among both men and women. Further, women's and men's memories of parental (both maternal and paternal) acceptance predicted forgiveness as mediated by psychological adjustment.

How drug onset rate and duration of action affect drug forgiveness.

Medication nonadherence is one of the largest problems in healthcare today, particularly for patients undergoing long-term pharmacotherapy. To combat nonadherence, it is often recommended to prescribe so-called "forgiving" drugs, which maintain their effect despite lapses in patient adherence. Nevertheless, drug forgiveness is difficult to quantify and compare between different drugs. In this paper, we construct and analyze a stochastic pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) model to quantify and understand drug forgiveness. The model parameterizes a medication merely by an effective rate of onset of effect when the medication is taken (on-rate) and an effective rate of loss of effect when a dose is missed (off-rate). Patient dosing is modeled by a stochastic process that allows for correlations in missed doses. We analyze this "on/off" model and derive explicit formulas that show how treatment efficacy depends on drug parameters and patient adherence. As a case study, we compare the effects of nonadherence on the efficacy of various antihypertensive medications. Our analysis shows how different drugs can have identical efficacies under perfect adherence, but vastly different efficacies for adherence patterns typical of actual patients. We further demonstrate that complex PK/PD models can indeed be parameterized in terms of effective on-rates and off-rates. Finally, we have created an online app to allow pharmacometricians to explore the implications of our model and analysis.

Relations between Parental Acceptance-Rejection and Forgiveness/Vengeance as Mediated by Psychological Adjustment among Egyptian Adults.

The study investigated relations among parental (maternal and paternal) acceptance-rejection and dispositions toward forgiveness and vengeance, as mediated by psychological (mal)adjustment. Data were collected using convenience sampling from 341 adults (87% females) ranging from 18 years to above 52 years old. Measures used were short forms of the maternal and paternal Adult Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaires (PARQ) to investigate recollections of parental acceptance-rejection, the short form of the Adult Personality Assessment Questionnaire (PAQ) to evaluate which participants were psychologically (mal)adjusted, the Heartland Forgiveness Scale (HFS), the Vengeance Scale (VS-10) to investigate levels of forgiveness and vengeance respectively, and a Personal Information Form (PIF). The results indicated that participants perceived significant signs of paternal rejection and substantial maternal acceptance during childhood. Men and women self-reported fair psychological adjustment. Women reported having no disposition toward vengeance, whereas men slightly leaned toward vengeance. Participants were equally likely to be unforgiving as forgiving. Psychological adjustment mediated the relations between maternal acceptance (but not paternal acceptance) and forgiveness among men and women. Psychological maladjustment mediated the relations between maternal rejection and vengeance among women, but not men. Psychological maladjustment did not mediate relations between paternal rejection and vengeance. Limitations and implications of the findings are discussed.

Associations of self-forgiveness processes with distress and well-being outcomes: Evidence from a longitudinal study of Indonesian adults.

To date, few empirical studies have examined the benefits of the processes involved in self-forgiveness-value reorientation and esteem restoration-for individual well-being using longitudinal data from non-Western samples. In this study, we take a step toward addressing this gap by analysing three waves of data collected among 595 Indonesians (Mage = 21.95, SD = 4.39). Applying the analytic templates for lagged exposure-wide and outcome-wide longitudinal designs, we performed a series of linear regressions to estimate associations of value reorientation and esteem restoration in Wave 2 with three indicators of distress and 10 indicators of well-being in Wave 3, adjusting for Wave 1 covariates. Value reorientation and esteem restoration were each associated with improvements in several well-being outcomes (six for value reorientation and three for esteem restoration), but both showed little evidence of associations with the distress outcomes. In a secondary analysis, those who scored higher on both value reorientation and esteem restoration (i.e., self-forgiveness group) in Wave 2 reported higher well-being on five outcomes in Wave 3 compared to those who scored lower on value reorientation, esteem restoration, or both (i.e., no or partial self-forgiveness group). We discuss some implications of the findings for conceptualising self-forgiveness and promoting well-being.

Memories of Parental Acceptance and Rejection Predict Forgiveness and Vengeance in the Muslim World: Introduction and Overview.

The studies in this special issue on forgiveness and vengeance in the Muslim world explore three hypotheses drawn from interpersonal acceptance-rejection theory (IPARTheory): (1) Adults' memories of maternal and paternal acceptance in childhood are associated with the disposition toward forgiveness, as mediated by psychological adjustment. (2) Adults' memories of maternal and paternal rejection in childhood are associated with the disposition toward vengeance, as mediated by psychological maladjustment. (3) There are no significant gender differences in relations between adults' (men's and women's) memories of parental acceptance-rejection in childhood and adults' disposition toward forgiveness or vengeance, as mediated by psychological (mal)adjustment. Results of most studies reported here conclude that memories of parental (maternal and paternal) acceptance in childhood are significantly related to men's and women's disposition toward forgiveness and vengeance as mediated by psychological (mal)adjustment. However, gender and cultural differences also sometimes appear as significant contributors.

Relations among Memories of Parental Acceptance-Rejection, Psychological (Mal)Adjustment, Forgiveness, and Vengeance among Turkish Adults.

The study investigated relations among memories of parental (maternal and paternal) acceptance-rejection, forgiveness, and vengeance, as mediated by psychological (mal)adjustment. The sample consists of 323 Turkish adults (50% females; Age range: 18-61 years; Mage = 35.73, SD = 10.41) from Istanbul, Turkiye. Participants responded to mother and father versions of the adult Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire (adult PARQ; short form), the adult Personality Assessment Questionnaire (adult PAQ; short form), the Heartland Forgiveness Scale, the Vengeance Scale, and the Personal Information Form. The results showed that both men and women remembered their parents as substantially warm and accepting during childhood and self-reported having fair psychological adjustment. Men and women were found to be equally likely to be forgiving as unforgiving and reported no dispositions toward vengeance. However, men reported higher levels of vengeance as compared to women. Psychological adjustment mediated the relations between parental acceptance and forgiveness, while psychological maladjustment mediated the relations between parental rejection and vengefulness for women and men. Implications of the findings and future research directions are discussed.