Top

Published in:

01-06-2011 | REPORT

Forgiveness Therapy: A Clinical Intervention for Chronic Disease

Author: Barbara A. Elliott

Published in: Journal of Religion and Health | Issue 2/2011

Abstract

Every year, chronic illnesses result in significant costs, disability and deaths. Efforts to understand the causes, treatments and management possibilities for chronic illnesses are ongoing. Some chronic conditions, including addictions, obesity, mental health circumstances, COPD and cirrhosis, have been identified as health conditions with social and interpersonal etiologies. Recent research documents that these conditions are related to adverse early life experience; treatment and prevention of these chronic conditions remains challenging. Concurrent research investigating forgiveness interventions has been reported in the counseling therapy literature, which may have enormous personal and public health impact.

American Psychological Association. (2010). Forgiveness. Retrieved 2 Mar 2010, from http://www.apa.org/pubs/videos/4310706.aspx.

Baskin, T. W., & Enright, R. D. (2004). Intervention studies on forgiveness: A meta-analysis. Journal of Counseling & Development, 82, 79–90.

Berry, J. W., & Worthington, E. L. (2001). Forgiveness, relationship quality, stress while imagining relationship events, and physical and mental health. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 48, 447–455.CrossRef

Borris, E. R. (2003). The healing power of forgiveness. Washington, DC: Peace Initiatives.

Carson, J. W., Keefe, F. J., Goli, V., Fras, A. M., Lynch, T. R., Thorp, S. R., et al. (2005). Forgiveness and chronic low back pain: A preliminary study examining the relationship of forgiveness to pain, anger, and psychological distress. The Journal of Pain, 6(2), 84–91.PubMedCrossRef

Caspi, A., Harrington, H., Moffitt, T. E., Milne, B. J., & Poulton, R. (2006). Socially isolated children 20 years later: Risk of cardiovascular disease. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 160(8), 805–811.CrossRef

Danese, A., Pariante, C. M., Caspi, A., Taylor, A., & Poulton, R. (2007). Childhood maltreatment predicts adult inflammation in a life-course study. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America, 104(4), 1319–1324.CrossRef

Donelan-McCall, N., Eckenrode, J., & Olds, D. L. (2009). Home-visiting for the prevention of child maltreatment: Lessons learned during the past 20 years. Pediatric Clinics of North America, 56(2), 389–403.PubMedCrossRef

Dong, M., Giles, W. H., Felitti, V. J., Dube, S. R., Williams, J. E., Chapman, D. P., et al. (2004). Insights into causal pathways for ischemic heart disease: Adverse childhood experiences study. Circulation, 110(13), 1761–1766.PubMedCrossRef

Edwards, V. J., Holden, G. W., Felitti, V. J., & Anda, R. F. (2003). Relationship between multiple forms of childhood maltreatment and adult mental health in community respondents: Results from the adverse childhood experiences study. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160(8), 1453–1460.PubMedCrossRef

Enright, R. D., & Coyle, C. T. (1998). Researching the process model of forgiveness within psychological interventions. In E. L. Worthington (Ed.), Dimensions of forgiveness: Psychological research & theological perspectives (pp. 149–161). Radnor, PA: Templeton Foundation Press.

Enright, R. D., & Fitzgibbons, R. P. (2000). Helping clients forgive: An empirical guide for resolving anger and restoring hope. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.CrossRef

Farrow, T. F. D., & Woodruff, P. W. R. (2005). Neuroimaging of forgivability. In E. L. Worthington (Ed.), Handbook of forgiveness (pp. 259–272). New York, NY: Rouledge.

Farrow, T. F. D., Zheng, Y., Wilkinson, I. D., Spence, S. A., Deakin, J. F. W., Tarrier, N., et al. (2001). Investigating the functional anatomy of empathy and forgiveness. NeuroReport, 12(11), 2433–2438.PubMedCrossRef

Felitti, V. (1998). Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults: The adverse childhood experiences (ACES) study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 14(4), 245–258.PubMedCrossRef

Freedman, S. R., & Enright, R. D. (1996). Forgiveness as an intervention goal with incest survivors. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64, 983–992.PubMedCrossRef

Geronimus, A. T. (1992). The weather hypothesis and the health of African-American women and infants: Evidence and speculations. Ethnicity and Disease, 2(3), 207–221.PubMed

Geronimus, A. T., Hicken, M., Keene, D., & Bound, J. (2006). ‘Weathering’ and age patterns of allostatic load scores among blacks and whites in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 96(5), 826–833.PubMedCrossRef

Harris, A. H. S., & Thoresen, C. E. (2005). Forgiveness, unforgiveness, health and disease. In E. L. Worthington (Ed.), Handbook of forgiveness (pp. 321–334). New York, NY: Brunner-Routledge.

Harris, A. H. S., Thoresen, C. E., & Lopez, S. J. (2007). Integrating positive psychology into counseling: Why and (when appropriate) how. Journal of Counseling & Development, 85, 3–13.

Harris, A. H. S., Thoresen, C. E., McCullough, M. E., & Larson, D. B. (1999). Spiritually and religiously oriented health interventions. Journal of Health Psychology, 4(3), 413–433.CrossRef

Hills, S. D., Anda, R. F., Dube, S. R., Felitti, V. J., Marchbanks, P. A., & Marks, J. S. (2004). The association between adverse childhood experiences and adolescent pregnancy, long-term psychosocial consequences and fetal death. Pediatrics, 113(2), 320–327.CrossRef

Horwitz, A. V., Widom, C. S., McLaughlin, J., & White, H. R. (2001). The impact of childhood abuse and neglect on adult mental health: A prospective study. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 42(2), 184–201.PubMedCrossRef

Lawler, K. A., Younger, J. W., Piferi, R. L., Jobe, R. L., Edmondson, K. A., & Jones, W. H. (2005). The unique effects of forgiveness on health: An exploration of pathways. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 28(2), 157–167.PubMedCrossRef

Lundahl, B., Taylor, M. J., Stevenson, R., & Roberts, K. D. (2008). Process-based forgiveness interventions: A meta-analytic review. Research on Social Work Practice, 18, 465–478.CrossRef

McCullough, M. E., & Worthington, E. L. (1995). Promoting forgiveness: The comparison of two brief psychoeducational interventions with a waiting-list control. Journal of Counseling and Values, 40, 55–68.

McEwen, B. S. (1998). Protective and damaging effects of stress mediators. New England Journal of Medicine, 338(3), 171–179.PubMedCrossRef

McEwen, B. S. (2000). The neurobiology of stress: From serendipity to clinical relevance. Brain Research, 886(1–2), 172–189.PubMedCrossRef

Murray, R. J. (2002). The therapeutic use of forgiveness in healing intergenerational pain. Counseling and Values, 46, 188–198.

National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2009). Chronic disease prevention and health promotion. Retrieved 12 Sep 2009, from http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp.

Newberg, A. B., & deMarici, V. (2001). The neurophsycological correlates of forgiveness. In M. E. McCullough, K. I. Pargament, & C. E. Thoresen (Eds.), Forgiveness: Theory, research and practice (pp. 91–110). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

Patton, J. (2001). Forgiveness in pastoral care and counseling. In M. E. McCullough, K. I. Pargament, & C. E. Thoresen (Eds.), Forgiveness: Theory, research and practice (pp. 281–295). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

Post, B. C., & Wade, N. G. (2009). Religion and spirituality in psychotherapy: A practice-friendly review of research. Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session, 65(2), 131–146.PubMed

Seybold, K. S., Hill, P. C., Neumann, J. K., & Chi, D. S. (2001). Physiological and psychological correlates of forgiveness. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 20, 250–259.

Shilling, E. A., Aseltine, R. H., Jr., & Gore, S. (2007). Adverse childhood experiences and mental health in young adults: A longitudinal survey. BMC Public Health, 7, 30.CrossRef

Shonkoff, J. P., Boyce, W. T., & McEwen, B. S. (2009). Neuroscience, molecular biology, and the childhood roots of health disparities: Building a new framework for health promotion and disease prevention. Journal of the American Medical Association, 301(21), 2252–2259.PubMedCrossRef

Wade, N. G., Worthington, E. L., & Meyer, J. E. (2005). But do they work? A meta-analysis of group interventions to promote forgiveness. In E. L. Worthington (Ed.), Handbook of forgiveness (pp. 423–439). New York, NY: Routledge.

Wade, N. G., Johnson, C. V., & Meyer, J. E. (2008). Understanding concerns about interventions to promote forgiveness: A review of the literature. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 45(1), 88–102.CrossRef

Wade, N. G., Worthington, E. L., & Haake, S. (2009). Comparison of explicit forgiveness interventions with an alternative treatment: A randomized clinical trial. Journal of Consulting & Development, 87, 143–151.

Walton, E. (2005). Therapeutic forgiveness: Developing a model for empowering victims of sexual abuse. Clinical Social Work Journal, 33(2), 193–207.CrossRef

Witvliet, C. V. O., Ludwig, T. E., & Vander Laan, K. L. (2001). Granting forgiveness or harboring grudges: Implications for emotion, physiology, and health. Psychological Science, 12(2), 117–123.CrossRef

Witvliet, C. V. O., Worthington, E. L., Root, L. M., Sato, A. F., Ludwig, T. E., & Exline, J. J. (2007). Retributive justice, restorative justice, and forgiveness: An experimental psychophysiology analysis. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 10–25.CrossRef

Worthington, E. L. (2005). More questions about forgiveness: Research agenda for 2005–2015. In E. L. Worthington (Ed.), Handbook of forgiveness (pp. 557–574). New York, NY: Routledge.

Worthington, E. L., & Sherer, M. (2004). Forgiveness is an emotion-focused coping strategy that can reduce health risks and promote health resilience: Theory, review, and hypotheses. Psychology and Health, 19(3), 385–405.CrossRef

Worthington, E. L., Witvliet, C. V. O., Lerner, A. J., & Sherer, M. (2005). Forgiveness in health research and medical practice. Psychology and Health, 1(3), 169–176.

Worthington, E. l., Witvliet, C. V. O., Pietrini, P., & Miller, A. J. (2007). Forgiveness, health, and well-being: A review of evidence for emotional versus decisional forgiveness, dispositional forgivingness, and reduced unforgiveness. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 30, 291–302.PubMedCrossRef

Title: Forgiveness Therapy: A Clinical Intervention for Chronic Disease
Author: Barbara A. Elliott
Publication date: 01-06-2011
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Journal of Religion and Health / Issue 2/2011
Print ISSN: 0022-4197
Electronic ISSN: 1573-6571
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-010-9336-9

2024 ASCO Annual Meeting

Springer Medicine

Forgiveness Therapy: A Clinical Intervention for Chronic Disease

Abstract

2024 ASCO Annual Meeting

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 2/2011

Using Pictures to Evoke Spiritual feelings in Breast Cancer Patients: Development of a New Paradigm for Neuroimaging Studies

A Spiritual Person

The Role of Structure Versus Individual Agency in Churches’ Responses to HIV/AIDS: A Case Study of Baltimore City Churches

Gregory the Great’s Metaphor of the Physician of the Heart as a Model for Pastoral Identity

Philosophical Implications of the Systemic and Patient-Oriented Management of Chronic Heart Failure

Editorial