Forgiveness Therapy: An Empirical Guide for Resolving Anger and Restoring Hope

FORGIVENESS THERAPY: AN EMPIRICAL GUIDE FOR RESOLVING ANGER AND RESTORING HOPE. Robert D. Enright and Richard P. Fitzgibbons, Washington DC: American Psychological Association, 2015, Pp. xi + 358, Hb, ISBN 9781433818370. $69.95. Reviewed by Geoffrey W. Sutton (Evangel University/Springfield, MO).Forgiveness Therapy is a substantial revision of the authors' ground breaking work, Helping Clients Forgive (Enright & Fitzgibbons, 2000). Enright and Fitzgibbons have drawn on a plethora of research in the past decade and a half to broaden and deepen the conceptualization of forgiveness and the scope of problems to which forgiveness therapy may be successfully applied. This book is aimed at clinicians who want an updated clinical handbook with clear examples illustrating how forgiveness interventions may be integrated into treatment plans addressing other common mental disorders with a specific reference to the those codified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed., DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). in addition, the authors provide a review of empirical evidence supporting the efficacy of their four phase model, which provides an updated literature review of interest to academics and scientists.I find two themes that characterize the authors approach to forgiveness. one is obvious in their definition (morality) and the second is present but not so obvious (anger). Before going further, I will quote their definition (pp. 26-27).People, on rationally determining that they have been unfairly treated, forgive when they willfully abandon resentment and related responses (to which they have a right) and endeavor to respond to the wrongdoer based on the moral principle of beneficence, whichmay include compassion, unconditional worth, generosity, and moral love (to which the wrongdoer, by nature of the hurtful act or acts, has no right).The authors discuss their moral theme in the overview chapter and suggest forgiveness therapy is not a good fit with treatment approaches that exclude notions of right and wrong or justice and mercy. In contrast, forgiveness therapy is a good fit for approaches that recognize a rights-based morality. Two primary dimensions of moral foundation theory proposed by Haidt and his colleagues are evident in the definition. First, the injustice is founded on unfair treatment justifying the offended person's negative thoughts and feelings. Second, the acts of the offender result in harm. Forgiveness thus becomes a moral response to give up a redress of violated rights in favor of moral love.The second theme of anger is not so obvious in the definition but provides the core feature of clinical focus that the authors identify as a basis for supporting the role for forgiveness therapy in the treatment of multiple mental disorders and interpersonal conflicts. The authors present anger as the starting point for clinical work and a key feature of forgiveness therapy-in fact, the authors elaborate on anger as a complex state "at the center of forgiveness therapy (p.17)."Enright and Fitzgibbons organized Forgiveness Therapy into three parts for a total of 16 chapters. …