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The Construction of a Model of the Process of Couples’ Forgiveness in Emotion‐Focused Therapy for Couples
Author(s) -
Meneses Catalina Woldarsky,
Greenberg Leslie S.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of marital and family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.868
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1752-0606
pISSN - 0194-472X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-0606.2011.00234.x
Subject(s) - forgiveness , psychology , psychotherapist , process (computing) , family therapy , social psychology , computer science , operating system
This study explored how forgiveness unfolds in the context of emotion‐focused couples therapy (EFT‐C) in eight cases of women betrayed by their partners. Forgiveness was defined as a process involving the reduction in negative feelings and the giving out of undeserved compassion. This was measured by changes in the pre‐ and posttreatment scores on the Enright Forgiveness Inventory, the Unfinished Business Resolution Scale, and a single item directly asking respondents to indicate their degree of forgiveness. A task analysis was performed to rigorously track the steps leading to forgiveness using videotapes of therapy sessions for eight couples. The performance of the four couples who forgave were compared with each other and then contrasted with the performance of another four couples who did not reach forgiveness at the end of therapy. Based on these observations, a model of the process of forgiveness in EFT‐C and a process rating system were developed.