Therapeutic Groups to Help People Forgive Others: A Case Study

ABSTRACT

Most people have been harmed by another at some point in their lives. Many of these hurts linger in the lives of those who were hurt, through anger, fear, and rumination. Forgiving others, when it is safe and prudent to do so, can be one route toward healing these past hurts. Group therapy has specific strengths that might help people to effectively forgive others. One of those strengths is the creation of therapeutic factors. In the current paper we discuss how group forgiveness interventions and the development of three specific therapeutic factors (universality, cohesion, and altruism) can help to promote forgiveness. We review prior work on forgiveness interventions in group therapy, focused on effectiveness generally. We then provide an applied case study of a specific group that used Worthington’s REACH Forgiveness model. In this case study we highlight the themes of universality, cohesion, and altruism to illustrate the benefit of forgiveness interventions in group therapy.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Rory McDermott who helped with important administrative tasks for this manuscript.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nathaniel G. Wade

Nathaniel G. Wade, Ph.D. is Professor of Psychology at Iowa State University. He is a licensed Psychologist and Certified Group Psychotherapist. His research focuses on the efficacy of psychotherapy, specifically in the areas of promoting forgiveness of self and others and integrating religion and spirituality into psychotherapy. Corrine M. Schwarting, MS is a doctoral candidate in the Counseling Psychology program at Iowa State University. Her research interests include substance use, nature-based physical activity, and understanding the role that specific cultural identities have on well-being and health. Haley E. Williamson, MS is a doctoral candidate in the Counseling Psychology program at Iowa State University. Her research interests include forgiveness, psychophysical reactance, and group psychotherapy with the deaf and hard of hearing.