In Search of a Common Core: A Content Analysis of Interventions to Promote Forgiveness

Nathaniel G. Wade, Everett L. Worthington
2005 Psychotherapy  
This article reviews published methods for promoting forgiveness for a broad range of clinical issues. The review revealed a consensus among applied researchers regarding several broad types of interventions to promote forgiveness, namely, (a) defining forgiveness, (b) helping clients remember the hurt, (c) building empathy in clients for the perpetrator, (d) helping clients acknowledge their own past offenses, and (e) encouraging commitment to forgive the offender. Roughly half of the studies
more » ... lso prescribed interventions to help clients overcome unforgiveness (e.g., bitterness, vengefulness) without explicitly promoting forgiveness. Speculations about how to use forgiveness interventions in sensitive and client-supportive ways are advanced on the basis of the findings.
doi:10.1037/0033-3204.42.2.160 fatcat:fuhpig64gnhehjoxivyvnyckee