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...see Enright, 2001; Luskin, 2003; McCullough, Worthington, Sandage, 1997; Smedes, 1984; Worthington, 2001). Empirical evidence is mounting that forgiving someone for substantial injustices can regulate negative emotions and restore psychological health (Baskin & Enright, 2004; Coyle & Enright, 1997; Enright & Fitzgibbons, 2000; Freedman & Enright, 1996; Hansen, 2002; Ripley & Worthington, 2002).
* Forgiveness Defined
In the psychological literature, forgiveness is not condoning, excusing, or forgetting what happened to the client. Instead, it is a response to unfairness that includes the diminution of resentment or anger toward an offender and the institution of more positive feelings, thoughts, and behaviors toward that person (Enright, 2001; Worthington, 2001). Most researchers and counselors distinguish between forgiveness and reconciliation. It is possible to forgive and yet not reconcile with an abusive spouse, for example. One can forgive and still seek justice. In other words, forgiveness, properly understood, occurs from a position of strength, not weakness, because the forgiver recognizes an injustice and labels it for what it is.
* Forgiveness Within Counseling
Fitzgibbons (1986), as a practicing psychiatrist, was one of the first to see the toxic effects of deep and abiding anger on the emotional health of clients. The expression of anger in the short term is seen as important for catharsis, but without a process for actually reducing or ridding the client of the deep anger, psychological symptoms such as depression and anxiety can continue or increase (Enright & Fitzgibbons, 2000; Fitzgibbons, 1986). Fitzgibbons and other practitioners (e.g., Hope, 1987) have reasoned that because one role of forgiving is the reduction in resentment or deep anger toward another person, then perhaps forgiveness may be an efficacious means of going beyond expressing anger to reducing or eliminating it within a counseling context. People engaged in forgiveness counseling need to realize that as they forgive, they do not give up their right to a fair solution. They can have mercy on an offender and still ask for justice from that same person.
In counseling, forgiveness is considered a process that takes time (Enright, 2001; Fitzgibbons, 1986). Research findings demonstrate that longer programs, taking 12 weeks or more, tend to show statistically stronger outcomes for clients than programs that are brief, taking a few sessions (Baskin & Enright, 2004). Luskin (2003), Worthington (2001), and Enright (2001), all of whom have written manuals for people who are trying to forgive, are clear that forgiveness is the client's choice. The client should be free to explore what forgiveness is and what it is not before she or he makes the informed decision to begin the process of forgiveness in counseling.
* Pathways to Forgiveness
Despite the plethora of studies that have been conducted and books that have been written over the past decade, there has yet to be a study charting the process of or pathway to a forgiveness response. To date, that pathway has been assumed within all models that try to describe the client's movement toward recovery from emotional difficulty through forgiveness.
For example, Luskin (2003) posited a four-stage model in which the clients recognize rage, realize that abiding anger is unhealthy, reframe the unfair situation to see that it is not nearly as problematic as supposed, and resolve not to let anger dominate their emotional well-being.
Worthington's (2001) pyramid model includes points that are similar to those in Luskin's (2003) model as the clients recall the hurt and experience anger; begin to empathize with the offender; offer a prosocial response to the person; commit to forgiving by a concrete act of telling the offender or a confidant of this choice to forgive; and resolve, as in Luskin's model, to use forgiveness in future situations.
Perhaps the most researched forgiveness model to date is the Process Model that has emerged out of the University of Wisconsin (Enright & Human Development Study Group, 1991). A number of researchers have used this model to effect emotional regulation with children (Gambaro, 2002), adolescents (Al-Mabuk, Enright, & Cardis, 1995), married couples (Knutson, 2003), adults in middle age (Waltman, 2002), and older adults (Hansen, 2002; Hebl & Enright, 1993), many of whom have experienced considerable injustice with concomitant elevated anger, anxiety, and depression. The model is described as an unfolding process of 21 units (see Appendix A). The units are not considered to be linear in that clients do skip steps and recycle back to earlier ones.
Enright (2001) and Enright and Fitzgibbons (2000) give details of each unit of Appendix A. The units can be generalized into the four broad phases of uncovering (admitting the fact of the offense and experiencing its negative consequences), deciding to forgive (feeling a need for change and committing to forgive as a strategy in dealing with the offense), working (trying to see the offender from a broader perspective than the offense and to feel compassion for that person), and deepening (finding meaning and purpose in the offense and experiencing the benefits of forgiveness).
* Validating the Process of Forgiveness
Because forgiveness has empirical support that it is an efficacious treatment (Baskin & Enright, 2004) and because of its emerging popularity, it may be important to validate the process of what people actually...
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