Liberty University
The Effects of Forgiveness Therapy on Women After Spousal Emotional Abuse
Summary
The Effects of Forgiveness Therapy on Depression, Anxiety, and Posttraumatic Stress for Woman After Spousal Emotional Abuse, the title presents a strong argument about how women that once were abused emotionally by a spouse can be faced with negative psychological problems as an aftermath long after the relationship has ended (Reed & Enright, 2006). The negative psychological problems that woman can experience are anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem (Reed & Enright, 2006). Furthermore, this article focuses on how women that have been separated from their significant other more than two years benefited more from forgiveness therapy (FT) compared to other traditional alternative treatments (AT) when trying to overcome negative psychological problems (Reed & Enright, 2006). Forgiveness therapy is relatively new and primarily focuses on forgiving the abuser by targeting the resentment the victim has towards the abusive spouse or significant other. FT helps victims to grow and move past the negative psychological problems that once affected them. Reed and Enright (2006) studied twenty women of different races who came from different backgrounds. These women all had two things in common: They were all victims of psychological abuse and had been separated two years from their abuser. The women were split up into two different groups according to their age, the length of the abusive relationship, and the amount of time since being divorce or permanently separated (Reed & Enright, 2006). They conducted their research by first screening all the participants through the use of inventory instruments such as the Enright forgiveness inventory, Beck depression inventory, and state-trait anxiety inventory, just to name a few (Reed & Enright, 2006). These inventory instruments