Therapeutic Groups to Help People Forgive Others: A Case Study

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Interpersonal harm often leads to lingering negative emotions like anger and rumination.
• Forgiveness is a potential pathway to healing from past hurts.
• Group therapy offers unique benefits for facilitating forgiveness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore how group forgiveness interventions promote healing.
• To examine the role of specific therapeutic factors in forgiveness.
• To illustrate the application of a forgiveness model in group therapy.

Main Methods:

• Review of prior research on group forgiveness interventions.
• Discussion of therapeutic factors: universality, cohesion, and altruism.
• Case study analysis of a group utilizing the REACH Forgiveness model.

Main Results:

• Group therapy fosters therapeutic factors that support forgiveness.
• Universality, cohesion, and altruism are key elements in group forgiveness.
• The REACH model demonstrated effectiveness in a group setting.

Conclusions:

• Group forgiveness interventions, supported by therapeutic factors, can aid in healing.
• Specific therapeutic factors enhance the effectiveness of forgiveness.
• Group therapy provides a valuable context for forgiveness interventions.