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Email this article Forgiveness and Mental Health Variables among Psychotherapy Outpatients
Abstract
High cost of mental health problems to societies requires searching for factors that may have salutary effect on psychological health. Forgiveness might be one of such variables. Although empirical studies of forgiveness and mental health have been increasingly undertaken, there is a deficiency in examining the connections in clinical samples. The aim of the present research was to explore the relationships between multidimensional disposition to forgive and mental health variables, such as positive and negative affect and satisfaction with life, among outpatient psychotherapy participants in comparison to untreated individuals. The study included 137 respondents,68 of whom were outpatients and 69 the controls. The Heartland Forgiveness Scale, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule and the Satisfaction with Life Scale were used. The results showed no differences in forgiveness between the treatment and control group but revealed poorer mental health (lower positive affect and satisfaction with life, and higher negative affect) in outpatients. In the outpatients sample, positive associations between forgiveness and affect and life satisfaction were significantly stronger than in the controls. The findings suggest that treated individuals have more to gain through forgiveness than untreated ones.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/j.2020.33.3.145-159
Date of publication: 2020-10-31 02:04:10
Date of submission: 2020-04-24 12:41:51
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