Handbook of the Psychology of Self-Forgiveness

The present volume is a ground-breaking and agenda-setting investigation of the psychology of self-forgiveness. It brings together the work of expert clinicians and researchers working within the field, to address questions such as: Why is self-forgiveness so difficult? What contexts and psychological experiences give rise to the need for self-forgiveness? What approaches can therapists use to help people process difficult experiences that elicit guilt, shame and self-condemnation? How can people work through their own failures and transgressions? Assembling current theories and findings, this unique resource reviews and advances our understanding of self-forgiveness, and its potentially critical function in interpersonal relationships and individual emotional and physical health. The editors begin by exploring the nature of self-forgiveness. They consider its processes, causes, and effects, how it may be measured, and its potential benefits to theory and psychotherapy. Expertclinicians and researchers then examine self-forgiveness in its many facets; as a response to guilt and shame, a step toward processing transgressions, a means of reducing anxiety, and an essential component of, or, under some circumstances a barrier to, psychotherapeutic intervention. Contributors also address self-forgiveness as applied to diverse psychosocial contexts such as addiction and recovery, couples and families, healthy aging, the workplace, and the military. Among the topics in the Handbook: An evolutionary approach to shame-based self-criticism, self-forgiveness and compassion. Working through psychological needs following transgressions to arrive at self-forgiveness. Self-forgiveness and health: a stress-and-coping model. Self-forgiveness and personal and relational well-being. Self-directed intervention to promote self-forgiveness. Understanding the role of forgiving the self in the act of hurting oneself. The Handbook of the Psychology of Self-Forgiveness serves many healing professionals. It covers a wide range of problems for which individuals often seek help from counselors, clergy, social workers, psychologists and physicians. Research psychologists, philosophers, and sociologists studying self-forgiveness will also find it an essential handbook that draws together the advances made over the past several decades, and identifies important directions for the road ahead.

Table of Contents:
Part I: Understanding Self-forgiveness.- Orientation to the Psychology of Self-forgiveness.- Understanding Shame and Guilt.- An Evolutionary Approach to Shame-based Self-Criticism, Self-Forgiveness and Compassion.- 

About the Author :
Lydia Woodyatt is an Assistant Professor at Flinders University, Adelaide. Her research focuses on the psychological needs humans have following transgressions and the process of self-forgiveness. An award winning teacher, she combines her research in experimental social psychology with her previous career in pastoral care, speaking regularly to schools, universities, organizations, community groups, and the media on the topic of selfforgiveness,shame, self-compassion, and coping with negative emotions following failure and transgressions. Everett L. Worthington, Jr., is Commonwealth Professor of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). He is also a licensed Clinical Psychologist in Virginia. He has published 35 books and over 400 articles and scholarly chapters, many on the processes of forgiving others and oneself. Over the course of his career, Worthington has administered millions of dollars in grant funding, appeared regularly in the media,and spoken across the globe with the intention of promoting forgiveness in every willing heart, home, and homeland. Michael Wenzel is an Associate Professor in the School of Psychology at Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia. He has published around 70 journal articles and book chapters in the fields of social justice; justice restoration, forgiveness and moral repair in interpersonal and intergroup relations; social discrimination and tolerance between groups; and compliance with the law. He was the president of the International Society for Justice Research 2012-14. Brandon J. Griffin is a doctoral candidate in the APA-accredited counseling psychology program at Virginia Commonwealth University. He has authored multiple manuscripts on the topic of self-forgiveness, including the largest randomized controlled trial conducted to promote self-forgiveness among interpersonal offenders. He currently develops and implements self-forgiveness interventions designed to help military service membersreclaim their sense of purpose and restore trust in their relationships after experiencing a moral injury.