Forgiveness Research - Master Sha Forgiveness Research - Master Sha

Forgiveness Research

Forgiveness: Your Health Depends On It

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/forgiveness-your-health-depends-on-it

Studies have found that the act of forgiveness can reap huge rewards for your health, lowering the risk of heart attack; improving cholesterol levels and sleep; and reducing pain, blood pressure, and levels of anxiety, depression and stress. And research points to an increase in the forgiveness-health connection as you age.

“There is an enormous physical burden to being hurt and disappointed,” says Karen Swartz, M.D., director of the Mood Disorders Adult Consultation Clinic at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Chronic anger puts you into a fight-or-flight mode, which results in numerous changes in heart rate, blood pressure and immune response. Those changes, then, increase the risk of depression, heart disease and diabetes, among other conditions. Forgiveness, however, calms stress levels, leading to improved health.


The Effects of Chinese Calligraphy on Reducing Anxiety And Comorbid Depression Levels Among Breast Cancer Patients In Hong Kong

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/9cff/2db0af03cd47b59ff42d6d057088ffe6bf97.pdf

Participants were required to join eight-90 minute sessions of Chinese calligraphy intervention. Physiological measurements including blood pressure, heart rate and respiratory rate and self-reported psychological measurements including the full version of State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the short version Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS 21) were used. Blood pressure, heart rate and respiratory rate were measured at the baselines, before and after each intervention. The STAI and DASS 21 were measured at the baselines, after 4 weeks and after 8 weeks of Chinese calligraphy intervention.

A total of 45 female Hong Kong breast cancer patients participated in the research, and 30 of them finished all eight interventions.

Results. The results showed that calligraphy significantly reduced heart rate, respiratory rate, systolic blood pressure, as well as self-reported state-trait anxiety levels, depression levels and stress levels in breast cancer patients who received an eight-90 minute Chinese calligraphy intervention. Two hypotheses were supported by the results of the research: 1) There was a physiological slowing effect in blood pressure, heart rate and respiratory rate among breast cancer patients after the intervention; 2) Breast cancer patients had reduced scores on self-reported measures on anxiety and comorbid depression levels after the intervention.

Conclusion.These data suggest that Chinese calligraphy may be an effective alternative intervention to reduce the anxiety and comorbid depression levels among breast cancer patients in Hong Kong.

Patients with Elderly Disorders In research studies of patients with elderly disorders, Kao (2003) found that calligraphy treatment significantly improved Alzheimer’s patients’ performance on verbal ability and short-term memory, while the control group showed no such improvement. Similarly, in their study of stroke patients undergoing rehabilitation, Chiu, Kao & Ho (2002, cited in Kao, 2010) found that participants showed significant improvement in palm strength of the affected hands and fine motor coordination after a 2- week calligraphy treatment. In addition, visual attention and motor agility were also enhanced.

Patients with Psychosomatic Diseases For patients with psychosomatic diseases, Guo, Kao & Liu (2001) found that after calligraphy writing practice, patients with hypertension showed a significant reduction in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure, comparing with the pre-writing condition. In a related study, participants’ anxiety score was reduced, an increase in alpha wave patterns, and a decrease in heart rate were also indicated after calligraphy training. Specifically, introverted patients had greater blood pressure reduction than extroverted patients (Kao, Guo & Liu, 2010). Stress-related conditions of Diabetes II patients were also explored. Results showed that calligraphy intervention significantly reduced their state anxiety level as well as distress level (Kao, Ding & Cheng, 2000a cited in Kao, 2010).

Patients with Mental and Mood Disorders The effects of Chinese calligraphy on patients with mental and mood disorders (schizophrenia, depression, and neurosis) were explored. In a study of schizophrenic patients, Fan, Kao, Wang & Guo, (1999 cited in Kao, 2010) found that all negative symptoms of the participants, including “avolition”, “alogia”, “affective blunting”, “anhedonia- associality” levels were improved, when there was no significant change found in the positive symptoms (i.e., delusion, hallucination, bizarre behaviors). In addition, according to Fan et al (1999), after three months of calligraphy training, schizophrenic patients’ hospital behaviors, including “interpersonal relationships” as well as “moods” were also positively improved. Furthermore, participants’ state anxiety levels were reduced. Similar improvements on emotional status have also been found in patients with depression and neurosis. Participants’ negative emotions, including “depressed”, “annoyed”, “antagonistic”, and “confused” were significantly improved (Kao, 2010). In a study of patients with anxiety disorder, Dong, Jia, Wang, & Zhang (2006) found that using calligraphy treatment along with medications was more effective in reducing anxiety symptoms than using medications alone.


Hostility, forgiveness, and cognitive impairment over 10 years in a national sample of American adults

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30346198

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

We examined the extent to which self-forgiveness and forgiveness of others moderated the association of hostility with changes in cognitive impairment over 10 years in a nationally representative sample of adults in the United States.

METHOD:

Participants were 1,084 respondents to the Americans’ Changing Lives survey, a longitudinal study of American adults. Hostility, self-forgiveness, forgiveness of others, and cognitive impairment were measured at baseline, and cognitive impairment was assessed again at follow-up. Moderated multiple regression analyses tested whether self-forgiveness and forgiveness of others moderated the association of hostility with changes in cognitive impairment over time, controlling for baseline cognitive impairment and relevant sociodemographic and clinical factors.

RESULTS:

As hypothesized, greater hostility levels at baseline predicted more cognitive impairment 10 years later, β = .08, p < .01. In addition, self-forgiveness at baseline moderated the association between baseline hostility and cognitive impairment at follow-up, β = -.07, p < .01. Decomposing this interaction revealed that hostility significantly predicted increased cognitive impairment at follow-up for individuals with low, β = .15, p < .001, and average, β = .08, p = .001, levels of self-forgiveness but not for persons with high levels of self-forgiveness, β = .03, p = .34. In contrast, forgiveness of others was not a significant moderator.

CONCLUSIONS:

Greater hostility is associated with the development of more cognitive impairment over 10 years, and being more self-forgiving appears to mitigate these hostility-related effects on cognition. Enhancing self-forgiveness may thus represent one possible strategy for promoting cognitive resilience in adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).


A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of the Effects of Meditation on Empathy, Compassion, and Prosocial Behaviors

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320578887_A_Systematic_Review_and_Meta-analysis_of_the_Effects_of_Meditation_on_Empathy_Compassion_and_Prosocial_Behaviors

A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of the Effects of Meditation on Empathy, Compassion, and Prosocial Behaviors

Abstract

Increased attention has focused on methods to increase empathy, compassion, and prosocial behavior. Meditation practices have traditionally been used to cultivate prosocial outcomes, and recently investigations have sought to evaluate their efficacy for these outcomes.

We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of meditation for prosocial emotions and behavior. A literature search was conducted on mindfulness, meditation, mind-body therapies, tai chi, yoga, MBSR, MBCT, empathy, compassion, love, altruism, sympathy, or kindness. Randomized controlled trials in any population were included (26 studies with 1714 subjects). Most were conducted among healthy adults using compassion or loving kindness meditation over 8–12 weeks in a group format.

Most control groups were wait-list or no treatment. Outcome measures included self-reported emotions and observed behavioral outcomes. Many studies showed a low risk of bias. Results demonstrated small to medium effects of meditation on self-reported and observable outcomes and suggest psychosocial and neurophysiological mechanisms of action.

Subgroup analyses also supported small to medium effects of meditation even when compared to active control groups. Clinicians and meditation teachers should be aware that meditation can improve positive prosocial emotions and behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)


Efficacy of psychotherapeutic interventions to promote forgiveness: A meta-analysis.

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2013-44748-001?doi=1

META-ANALYSIS:

Efficacy of psychotherapeutic interventions to promote forgiveness: A meta-analysis.

Results: Participants receiving explicit forgiveness treatments reported significantly greater forgiveness than participants not receiving treatment (Δ+ = 0.56 [0.43, 0.68]) and participants, receiving alternative treatments (Δ+= 0.45 [0.21, 0.69]).

Also, forgiveness treatments resulted in greater changes in depression, anxiety, and hope than no-treatment conditions. Moderators of treatment efficacy included treatment dosage, offense severity, treatment model, and treatment modality. Multimoderator analyses indicated that treatment dosage (i.e., longer interventions) and modality (individual > group) uniquely predicted change in forgiveness compared with no-treatment controls.

Compared with alternative treatment conditions, both modality (individual > group) and offense severity were marginally predictive (ps < .10) of treatment effects.

Conclusions: It appears that using theoretically grounded forgiveness interventions is a sound choice for helping clients to deal with past offenses and helping them achieve resolution in the form of forgiveness.

Differences between treatment approaches disappeared when controlling for other significant moderators.


Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain matter density

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3004979/

Using brain imaging technology, scientists have found that the act of meditating also engages the frontal lobe connections that directly influence the brain’s limbic system, which controls emotions. The first study to show these alterations was published in the journal NeuroReport in 2005. Researchers used MRI scans to compare the brains of longtime meditators, who had practiced an average of nine years, to those of people who didn’t engage in meditation. The findings showed that people who meditated had a thicker cerebral cortex, the area of the brain responsible for information processing, than those who didn’t. Current research has shown benefits can begin to occur in as little as eight weeks.