Abstract
Forgiving, long encouraged by practitioners of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), is shown to be an elegant antidote to anger requiring recognition of two things. First, what happened was bad, or wrong. Second, the author of the bad or wrong occurrence is responsible for having done it. After reviewing some basic REBT points, an analysis of self-forgiveness underlines the importance of receiving as well as issuing forgiveness and the relationship of forgiving to depression and guilt. The importance of reconciling when forgiving self, the world-in-general and, for believers, omnipresent supernatural beings is presented. Reconciliation as finding enjoyment with that which also blocks, or has blocked, the fulfillment of our desires is also discussed.
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The author thanks Dr. Ricks Warren and two anonymous reviewers for their comments on this paper.
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Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the annual conventions of the American Psychological Association, August 2000 and the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, November 2000.
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Robb , H.B. Treating Anger with forgiveness may sometimes require Reconciliation. J Rat-Emo Cognitive-Behav Ther 25, 65–75 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-006-0030-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-006-0030-5