Use of forgiveness therapy among helping professionals in Indiana : an honors thesis (HONRS 499)

Abstract

Forgiveness, although not definitively defined, is a core feature of positive human development (Toussaint & Webb, 2005) and is a process that has recently emerged as a therapeutic practice approach (Enright & Fitzgibbons, 2000). The use of forgiveness therapy with children will be discussed as one treatment approach to address the consequences of child abuse. Data collected through an online survey regarding the attitudes of twenty-three Indiana mental health professionals about forgiveness and its use as a therapeutic tool are analyzed in this study. Those who believed that it was necessary for the child to develop empathy and compassion toward the offender also tended to believe that it was essential for the abused child to forgive the offender in order to move on with life. Participants who indicated that forgiveness was not a moral gift to the wrong-doer tended to state that forgiveness was not synonymous with reconciliation. Although forgiveness therapy reflects the social work profession's values of autonomy, beneficence, and dignity and self-worth and has proven to be beneficial among groups of adults, more research on the effectiveness of forgiveness therapy is needed to determine whether abused children would indeed benefit from this particular intervention.