FORGIVENESS OFFERS A HOST OF BENEFITS

In the area of mind-body healing, research on forgiveness is catching on. The victims of traumas perpetrated by others heal faster when they are able to forgive the perpetrator, according to pioneering research by Robert Enright, professor of educational psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and now director of the university's International Forgiveness Research. Studies are now venturing further to explore the beneficial effects of forgiveness in other contexts, according to a recent investigative report by Jane Lampman which was published in the Christian Science Monitor. For example, in a study of sixth graders who had problems with anger, whose behavioral problems would normally be addressed via medication, those taking a 12-week forgiveness course became less angry and more cooperative in class than those who did not receive the training. In another study, conducted at the Mendota Mental Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin, mentally ill criminally violent offenders who could not have empathy for their victims developed both empathy and remorse at the end of a forgiveness training program.

The institute has just completed a study demonstrating that forgiveness training improved heart functioning in hospitalized cardiac patients, thus moving the research into the physical effects of forgiveness.

The benefits of forgiveness may extend beyond what was previously conceived. Dr. Frederic Luskin, who heads the Stanford University Forgiveness Project, has concluded that the practice of forgiveness may be essential for physical health.