Forgiveness and Health
Survey data from 2000 showed that 61% of participants that were part of a small religious group reported that the group helped them be more forgiving.[78]Individuals reported that their religion groups which promote forgiveness was related to self-reports of success in overcoming addictions, guilt, and perceiving encouragement when feeling discouraged.[78]
It is suggested that mindfulness plays a role in forgiveness and health.[79] The forgiveness of others has a positive effect on physical health when it is combined with mindfulness but evidence shows that forgiveness only effects health as a function of mindfulness.[79]
A study from 2005 states that self-forgiveness is an important part of self-acceptance and mental health in later life.[80] The inability to self-forgive can compromise mental health.[80] For some elderly people, self-forgiveness requires reflecting on a transgression to avoid repeating wrongdoings, individuals seek to learn from these transgressions in order to improve their real self-schemas.[80] When individuals are successful at learning from these transgressions, they may experience improved mental health.[80]
A study in 2015 looks at how self-forgiveness can reduce feelings of guilt and shame associated with hypersexualbehaviour.[81] Hypersexual behaviour can have negative effects on individuals by causing distress and life problems.[81] Self-forgiveness may be a component that can help individuals reduce hypersexual negative behaviours that cause problems.[81]
Evidence shows that self-forgiveness and procrastination may be associated; self-forgiveness allows the individual to overcome the negatives associated with an earlier behaviour and engage in approach-oriented behaviours on a similar task.[82] Learning to forgive oneself for procrastination can be positive because it can promote self-worth and may cause positive mental health.[82] Self-forgiveness for procrastination may also reduce procrastination.[82]
Forgiveness and Physical Health
The correlation between forgiveness andphysical health is a concept that has recently gained traction in research. Some studies claim that there is no correlation, either positive or negative between forgiveness and physical health, and others show a positive correlation.[83]
Evidence Supporting a Correlation
Individuals with forgiveness as apersonality trait have been shown to have overall better physical health. In a study on relationships, regardless if someone was in a negative or positive relationship, their physical health seemed to be influenced at least partially by their level of forgiveness.[84]
Individuals who make a decision to genuinely forgive someone are also shown to have better physical health. This is due to the relationship between forgiveness and stress reduction. Forgiveness is seen as preventing poor physical health and managing poor physical health.[85]
Specifically individuals who choose to forgive another after a transgression have lower blood pressure and lowercortisol levels than those who do not. This is theorized to be due to various direct and indirect influences of forgiveness, which point to forgiveness as an evolutionary trait. See Broaden and Build Theory.[85]
Direct influences include: Reducinghostility (which is inversely correlated with physical health), and the concept that unforgiveness may reduce theimmune system because it puts stress on the individual. Indirect influences are more related to forgiveness as a personality trait and include: forgiving people may have more social supportand less stressful marriages, and forgiveness may be related to personality traits that are correlated with physical health.[85]
Forgiveness may also be correlated with physical health because hostility is associated with poor coronary performance. Unforgiveness is as an act of hostility, and forgiveness as an act of letting go of hostility. Heart patients who are treated with therapy that includes forgiveness to reduce hostility have improved cardiac health compared to those who are treated with medicine alone.[83]
Forgiveness may also lead to betterperceived physical health. This correlation applies to both self-forgiveness and other-forgiveness but is especially true of self-forgiveness. Individuals who are more capable of forgiving themselves have better perceived physical health.[86]
Criticisms
Forgiveness studies have been refuted by critics who claim that there is no direct correlation between forgiveness and physical health. Forgiveness contributes to mental health and mental health contributes to physical health, but there is no evidence that forgiveness directly improves physical health. Most of the studies on forgiveness cannot isolate it as an independent variable in an individual’s well-being, so it is difficult to prove causation.[87]
Additionally, research into the correlation between physical health and forgiveness has been criticized for being too focused on unforgiveness. Research shows more about what hostility and unforgiveness contribute to poor health than it shows what forgiveness contributes to physical health.[87]
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