Steps to Reach Forgiveness and to Reconcile

by Worthington, Everett L., Jr.

• ISBN13: 9780536562944
• ISBN10: 0536562946
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-04-09
• Publisher: Pearson Learning Solutions

Summary

This is a self-help book aimed at teaching people how to forgive and reconcile, founded on scientific research and clinical psychology, rather than on uncontrolled clinical practice, personal testimony, or theology. The author, a clinical psychologist and psychology professor, has spent years researching forgiveness and reconciliation, including how people respond physiologically to transgression, and how they calm down when they forgive. He has distilled his research on forgiveness into a five-step model called the Pyramid Model to REACH Forgiveness, the details of which make up the first part of the book; his four-step Bridge to Reconciliation makes up the second part. Steps to REACH Forgiveness and to Reconcileis framed very personally. It not only describes how forgiveness occurs in clinical practice and normal human relationships, it also describes the authorrs"s personal story in forgiving the murder of his mother. It deals with self-forgiveness as well. Steps to REACH Forgiveness and to Reconcilecan serve as a supplemental reading in courses like Positive Psychology, Personal Adjustment, Stress and Stress Management, or even Psychology 101. It would also be appropriate for courses in Social Relationships, Marriage and Family, Peace Studies, and any discipline dealing with communication and human relationships. As the authorrs"s own story attests, people can learn to forgive and reconcile.Steps to REACH Forgiveness and to Reconcilepresents an evidence-based intervention to help people do so more quickly and easily, if they are committed to trying.

Author Biography

Everett Worthington, PhD, is a professor of psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University and a licensed clinical psychologist in Virginia. He holds a PhD in counseling psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia (1978) and has published over 20 books and 200 articles and scholarly chapters, mostly on forgiveness, marriage, and family topics. From 1998 to 2005, he directed the Campaign for Forgiveness Research, a non-profit organization that supports research into forgiving for the Templeton Foundation.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction: Why Forgive?

 

Part One: HOW TO FORGIVE

1. Laying the Foundation

2. R: Recall the Hurt

3. E: Empathize

4. A: Altruistic Gift of Forgiveness

5. C: Commit Publicly to Forgive

6. H: Hold On to Forgiveness

 

Part Two: HOW TO RECONCILE

7. Decisions

8. Discussion

9. Detoxification

10. Devotion

 

Notes

Index