View clinical trials related to Forgiveness.
Filter by:The purpose of this study is to investigate and compare the effects of Christian and Islamic heart-centred spiritual meditation to mindfulness meditation and waitlist control conditions, respectively, in healthy adults. The potential effects will be studied at multiple levels, with a focus on psychophysiology, cognition, mental health, and social functioning.
Life stress is strongly associated with poor mental and physical health and its effects explain significant morbidity and mortality. Forgiveness is one of the factors that can influence the effects of stress on health. By definition, forgiveness is the release of negative feelings, emotions, and behaviors - and possibly the release of positive feelings - toward an offender. Numerous studies have shown that forgiveness is associated with several mental and physical health benefits. The literature argues that high levels of propensity to forgive (trait) predispose that person to experience forgiveness (state) more often. In other words, a stronger forgiving disposition is believed to increase the experience of forgiveness, which, in turn, mitigates the negative effects of stress. Forgiveness is therefore a coping style that can play a beneficial role in the stress-health relationship. Patients living with HIV (PLHIV) are patients particularly exposed to stress, not only because of their chronic pathology but also because of the stigma attached to this disease. Very few studies have studied the impact of forgiveness (state or trait) on the physical health of PLHIV and even fewer the impact of an intervention promoting the disposition to forgive. The objective of this prospective observational monocentric study is to show in a very secular country that forgiveness has an effect on well-being as well as on other health parameters.
This study is the first part of a two-tiered research project to propose a novel approach-forgiveness therapy-to corrections. This study is a non-intervention study and aims to demonstrate the need to introduce the concepts of forgiveness and Forgiveness Therapy within prisons. This study is focused on the extent to which men in a maximum-security prison experienced considerable injustice against them (such as in a family context as he was growing up) prior to committing serious crimes. Variables associated with this prior unjust treatment included the level of forgiveness and variables of current psychological well-being. Since this study provided the rationale and participants' matching data (eligibility) for the subsequent interventional study (Study 2, "Proposing Forgiveness Therapy in Prison") in which psychological treatments applied to the inmates, investigator refer to this study as Study 1.
Previous studies found that a large number of prisoners experienced unjust treatment from others, which can lead to deep inner pain or anger, prior to criminal perpetration. Such unresolved anger can deepen and linger, be turning to resentment (excessive anger) or rage (very intense, potentially violent anger), compromising one's psychological health and behavior and even contributing to their choice of crime. However, Forgiveness Therapy, as an empirically-verified treatment, can help reduce and even eliminate the excessive anger. Its positive effects have been scientifically supported by numerous studies within diverse populations. Therefore, in the prison context, similarly, the investigator hypothesizes that Forgiveness Therapy will lower rates of anger, depression, and anxiety and raise the levels of forgiveness, empathy, hope, and self-esteem for the experimental (Forgiveness Therapy) group as compared to the alternative treatment control group. This is based upon numerous studies that demonstrate the efficacy of Forgiveness Therapy with comparisons to other treatment methods. Further, the study team expects behavioral change by the men within the correctional institution, as measured by officers' observations as well as the number of misconducts in conduct reports on each participant and the time spent in restrictive housing. This study is the second part of a two-tiered research project to propose a novel approach--Forgiveness Therapy--to corrections and aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of Forgiveness Therapy in reducing resentment and other negative psychological symptoms such as excessive anger, anxiety, and depression for the prison inmates. A random sample of 24 participants, who have not participated in forgiveness workshops or forgiveness therapy, were taken from the Study 1(the investigator's previous research from the maximum-security prison of Columbia Correctional Institution "Examining Prison Inmates' Attitudes and Internal Emotional States"). These participants became 12 matched pairs (matched by the type of abuse, the severity of the abuse, and age at which the injustice occurred) with each member of the matched pair randomly assigned to the experimental group or control group. Each inmate participated voluntarily in this study. Since this study is a continuation of Study 1, the investigator named this study as Study 2.