Overview
- Provides a single source for information on the new contributions of forgiveness to health and medicine
- Comprehensive analysis of important health-related variables such as age, race, gender, and their impact on forgiveness and health connections
- Focuses on the science of forgiveness and what it offers to the fields of health, psychology, and medicine
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Table of contents (19 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Definition, Measurement, and Models
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Front Matter
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Empirical Evidence of Forgiveness-Health Connections
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Front Matter
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Factors Connecting Forgiveness and Health
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Front Matter
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Applications Regarding Forgiveness and Health
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Front Matter
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Keywords
- Age and Forgiveness
- Culture and Forgiveness
- Forgiveness Interventions
- Forgiveness and Abuse
- Forgiveness and Family Relationships
- Forgiveness and Happiness
- Forgiveness and Physical Health
- Forgiveness and Physiological Concomitants
- Forgiveness and Well-Being
- Forgiveness in Stress and Coping
- Forgiveness in a Social-Culturak Context
- Intergroup Forgiveness
- Key Considerations for Health Outcomes
- Measuring Forgiveness in Health
- Multidimensional Forgiveness
- Positive Religious Coping Experiences
- Role of Forgiveness in Chronic Pain
About this book
This volume collects the state-of-the-art research on forgiveness and mental and physical health and well-being. It focuses specifically on connections between forgiveness and its health and well-being benefits. Forgiveness has been examined from a variety of perspectives, including the moral, ethical and philosophical. Ways in which to become more forgiving and evolutionary theories of revenge and forgiveness have also been investigated and proposed. However, little attention has been paid to the benefits of forgiveness.
This volume offers an examination of the theory, methods and research utilized in understanding these connections. It considers trait and state forgiveness, emotional and decisional forgiveness, and interventions to promote forgiveness, all with an eye toward the positive effects of forgiveness for a victim’s health and well-being. Finally, this volume considers key moderators such as gender, race, and age, as well as, explanatory mechanisms that might mediate links between forgiveness and key outcomes.
Reviews
The world being what it is, there is no shortage of circumstances where the worst of human behaviors provide the opportunity for one of the best, namely forgiveness. Philosophers have long wrestled with the question of whether forgiveness is better for the forgiver or the forgivee. Remarkably, this question has become a subject of careful scientific research in recent years, and this excellent, important book presents the first thorough overview of the subject. Naturally, the answer to the question, "Is forgiveness good for you" is mighty complicated.
Robert M Sapolsky
John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor
Departments of Biology, Neurosurgery, and Neurology and Neurological Sciences
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How we experience life’s challenges can profoundly affect our well-being. In this outstanding book, Toussaint, Worthington, and Williams open our eyes to the power of forgiveness, which may be one of the most important tools we have for reducing disease and improving human health. Their review of the subject is the best to date and a must-read for scientists, practitioners, and laypeople alike.
George M. Slavich
Director, Laboratory for Stress Assessment and Research
Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology
University of California, Los Angeles
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Christopher G. Ellison
Professor of Sociology
Dean's Distinguished Professor of Social Science
University of Texas at San Antonio
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This volume is cutting edge. All that is currently known on forgiveness, unforgiveness and health is covered between these covers. A remarkable compilation of chapters that review research findings on the relationship between forgiveness and medical and mental health. A book of great significance in this emerging area.
Leslie Greenberg
Professor-Department of Psychology
York University
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Forgiveness and Health is the definitive volume on the role of forgiveness in human health. Scholarly, creative, and user-friendly, the chapters in this book are likely to steer the field for many years to come.
Michael McCullough
Professor-Department of Psychology
University of Miami
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This book is a comprehensive and carefully crafted resource for researchers, teachers, students, and anyone looking to better understand the science of how forgiveness can improve one's health. Leading contributors offer deep insight and useful recommendations about forgiveness and well being. This book is the best answer to date of the important question, "how and why is forgiveness good for you?"
 Frederic Luskin
Director of the Stanford Forgiveness Projects
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Research on forgiveness has seen an explosion of interest and activity over the past several
years. In Forgiveness and Health, Toussaint, Worthington and Williams have done the burgeoning field an important service by bringing together top scholars in the field to assess the current state of theory, measurement and findings on the topic. As important, their volume provides crucial insights for helping to guide future research efforts on forgiveness and its consequences. There is little doubt that Forgiveness and Health will be an essential resource for scholars in the field for years to come.Marc Musick
Professor, Department of Sociology
Mike Hogg Professorin Liberal Arts
Senior Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts
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This volume signals a coming-of-age of forgiveness theory, research, and practice. Written by leaders in the field, the chapters in Forgiveness and Health report on the latest advances in the definition, theory, and measurement of forgiveness. In rich detail , they describe how forgiveness is fully interwoven into physical health, mental health, culture, and context. The volume cements the vital role of forgiveness in efforts to understand and enhance health and well-being. Highly recommended for researchers and practitioners alike.
Kenneth I. Pargament, Ph. D.
Professor, Department of Psychology
Bowling Green State University
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This volume provides a welcome and comprehensive approach to understanding forgiveness and its role in health. It is well-known that social ties are key determinants of good health and well-being, and that social isolation is a risk. But there are strains in every relationship, and a need for restoration.Â
Forgiveness is a mechanism for the repair of social relationships -- and it is available to everyone.Ellen L Idler, PhD
Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Sociology
Director, Religion and Public Health Collaborative
Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health
Emory University
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Drs. Toussaint, Worthington, and Williams are, of course, three of the leading experts on the topic of forgiveness and how it relates to, and impacts, both mental and physical health. Consequently, it is not surprising that they assembled a true all-star collection of authors in this comprehensive volume on forgiveness. Though the research literature is not as plentiful in this area as in others with longer histories, through examination of this book I found it rather amazing how much work has been done in a relatively short amount of time. There is currently no better source for a thorough survey of the work on forgiveness and health than this book. All scholars interested in this area will want to have this volume on their shelf.
Kevin S. Masters, Ph.D.
Professor and Program Director, Clinical Health Psychology
Editor-in-Chief, Annals of Behavioral Medicine
Past President, Division 38 (Health Psychology) American Psychological Association
University of Colorado Denver
Editors and Affiliations
About the editors
Loren Toussaint is a professor in the department of psychology at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. He is a former visiting scientist at Mayo Clinic, the associate director of the Sierra Leone Forgiveness Project, and a consultant in the Department of Pastoral Care at Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Dr. Toussaint’s research examines religious and spiritual factors, especially forgiveness, and how they are related to health and well-being. He directs the Laboratory for the Investigation of Mind, Body, and Spirit, and has mentored over 75 students studying in this laboratory (see: https://www.luther.edu/touslo01/).
Everett Worthington, Ph.D., is Commonwealth Professor of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is also a licensed Clinical Psychologist in Virginia. He has published over 35 books and about 400 articles and scholarly chapters, mostly on forgiveness, marriage and family, and religion and spirituality. Many of those study the overlap of the topic with physical and mental health (see www.EvWorthington-forgiveness.com).
David R. Williams is the Florence and Laura Norman Professor of Public Health, African and African American Studies and Sociology at Harvard University. His prior academic appointments were at Yale University and the University of Michigan. The author of over 350 scientific papers on social influences on health, he directed a national study of forgiveness and health and has studied the association between religious involvement and health. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was ranked as one of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds in 2014.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Forgiveness and Health
Book Subtitle: Scientific Evidence and Theories Relating Forgiveness to Better Health
Editors: Loren Toussaint, Everett Worthington, David R. Williams
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9993-5
Publisher: Springer Dordrecht
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science, Behavioral Science and Psychology (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015
Hardcover ISBN: 978-94-017-9992-8Published: 14 October 2015
Softcover ISBN: 978-94-017-7895-4Published: 23 August 2016
eBook ISBN: 978-94-017-9993-5Published: 05 October 2015
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: X, 306
Topics: Positive Psychology, Quality of Life Research, Psychology Research