The Role of Forgiveness in Mental Health Recovery

Across the world, the prevalence of mental disorders is increasing, based on numbers by the World Health Organization. And when you struggle with a mental health condition, it comes with unpleasant feelings like resentment, shame, and guilt.

Mental health practitioners and medical experts alike agree that successful recovery, whether it’s from a medical or mental condition, requires practicing forgiveness. In fact, there’s evidence to prove that forgiveness positively affects your physical and mental well-being. But what role does forgiveness play in the recovery process? Let’s take a look at what it means, why it’s important, and what it includes in the context of recovery.

What Is Forgiveness In Mental Health Recovery?

Forgiveness is a necessary component of achieving mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. It doesn’t just mean forgiving others, but forgiving yourself and seeking forgiveness. It’s a conscious choice to let go of anger and resentment towards people who caused you harm and learn to forgive yourself for the mistakes you’ve made.

Forgiveness Is Not…

Some people struggle with forgiveness, especially if they think it means condoning or forgetting what happened, but this isn’t the case. Rather, you free yourself from emotional burdens and move towards emotional healing. Similarly, forgiveness isn’t the same as getting justice or reconciling with someone who hurt you, but feeling understanding, compassion, or empathy for them.

Why Is Forgiveness Important?

You’re probably wondering why it’s so important to forgive. Research indicates that there are plenty of reasons to practice forgiveness.

Reduces Stress Levels

The primary factor that links forgiveness with well-being is stress relief. It’s no secret that chronic stress is terrible for mental health and that it can contribute to problems like anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Much of our stress comes from interpersonal stressors, such as arguments, negative attitudes, and hurtful behavior from peers, romantic partners, or family members.

These stressors lead to undue emotional burden, but practicing forgiveness can help you put them to rest. During treatment, this happens over the course of different types of family counseling sessions, where each party acknowledges how the other has wronged them, gradually moving towards forgiveness.

Improves Outcomes During Recovery

There’s evidence to show that practicing forgiveness can reduce the severity of psychiatric conditions. One study on the correlation between forgiving others and well-being showed that the former is associated with improved psychosocial outcomes.

Participants ranked higher for social integration and positive affect and ranked lower for distress outcomes like depressive symptoms. The study concluded that practicing forgiveness can improve psychosocial well-being in those struggling with poor mental health. In another study, people who completed a set of exercises meant to encourage forgiveness showed a meaningful decrease in anxiety and depression symptoms.

Improves Physical Health

Besides alleviating stress, forgiveness helps you let go of what experts refer to as ‘toxic anger.’ While some anger can be helpful, long-lasting anger can take a toll on the body’s mental and physical capabilities. Eliminating that anger relaxes your muscles, strengthens the immune system, and brings down your risk of heart disease.

And keep in mind that your physical health isn’t entirely unrelated to your mental well-being. In fact, your physical health can play a role in how responsive you are towards treatment.

Builds Your Self-Compassion

Researchers have tried to explain the link between psychosocial well-being and forgiveness through self-compassion. In one study, they found that self-compassion mediated the link between a lack of forgiveness and depressive feelings. That’s because having self-compassion allows you to experience positive emotions while adopting an empathetic, understanding view of painful feelings, allowing you to forgive others easily.

Forgiving Yourself and Others And Seeking Forgiveness

When you’re struggling with a mental health disorder and are seeking treatment, the topic of ‘forgiveness’ can be difficult to discuss. Nevertheless, it’s important to realize that it’s a key aspect of your recovery journey. To move forward, you’ll need to forgive yourself and others, as well as seek forgiveness from people you hurt because of your condition.

Self-Forgiveness In Mental Health Recovery

When you’re dealing with mental health struggles, you’re also battling feelings of shame and guilt from the hurt you’ve caused loved ones. Shame can prevent you from acknowledging your wrongdoing, while guilt can make you feel like you don’t deserve to feel better. However, such emotions affect the recovery process, so learning self-forgiveness is a good place to start. Sure, it’s easier said than done, but here are a few actions to begin with:

• Take responsibility for your actions by accepting what you’ve done and showing self-compassion.

• Even after you’ve accepted responsibility for your behavior, feelings of guilt can remain. This shows that you’re feeling remorseful, which is a catalyst for positive change.

• Dedicate yourself to recovery and work on unhelpful behaviors so you feel like you’ve earned forgiveness.

• Realize that you’re learning and growing throughout the recovery process.

Forgiving Other People

When your mental health condition stems from a place of trauma, forgiving others is part of your recovery process. The pain caused by others can lead to feelings of anger, which feeds a cycle of unhelpful behaviors. To break that cycle, you must first let go of the resentment you hold against people who caused you pain.

Seeking Forgiveness From Loved Ones

Over the course of your treatment, you’ll realize that you hurt some people along the way. Your loved ones will have a profound impact on sustaining your recovery, which is why it’s important to make amends with them.

If you’re attending family therapy sessions with them, tell them that you’re accepting responsibility for your hurtful behavior. When you ask for their forgiveness, you should be prepared to listen to how they feel. Perhaps they may not forgive you, but knowing that you asked for forgiveness can help you make peace with the situation.

Conclusion

Throughout the mental health recovery process, forgiveness plays a role in how you see yourself, your loved ones, and those who may have contributed to your pain and suffering. By letting go of your resentment and shame, you can dedicate that emotional energy towards healing. In the long term, it can help you develop a sense of self-worth and encourage you to build stronger relationships with others.