Forgiveness Can Improve Immune Function
A new small study conducted in people living with HIV shows individuals who truly forgave someone who had hurt them in the past showed positive changes in their immune status. The study was presented at the Society of Behavioral Medicine 32nd Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions.
Study author Amy Owen, PhD, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, noted that helping people who have been violated in the past come to a place of peace can be done, but it has to be done well.
"If psychiatrists want to counsel patients about forgiveness, they first need to understand very deeply what forgiveness is and what it is not," she said. "If there isn't a good therapeutic relationship between a physician and the patient, “what patients can hear from you when you are suggesting forgiveness is, 'I don't want to hear about it anymore and what's wrong with you that you are not just fine with it.' But that can be extremely violating and potentially retraumatize the person who has already been deeply hurt."
It's also very important to respect a patient's anger, she added, because sometimes that is all a person has. "If you threaten that by suggesting that the patient shouldn't be so angry, it can be disrespectful, so if a psychiatrist wants to engage with a patient on the topic of forgiveness, it's essential they understand the definitions of forgiveness and be willing to journey with that person over time. Patients will struggle with it; it's not a linear process, but it is very transformative."
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