The best deed of a great man is to forgive and forget.
Nahjul Balagha, Saying 201
Where there is forgiveness, there is God Himself.
Adi Granth, Shalok, Kabir, p. 1372
The superior man tends to forgive wrongs and deals leniently with crimes.
Confucianism. I Ching 40: Release
If you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Matthew 5.23-24
Who takes vengeance or bears a grudge acts like one who, having cut one hand while handling a knife, avenges himself by stabbing the other hand.
Jerusalem Talmud, Nedarim 9.4
Good day, dear Take in Mind readers! Today we have a very special topic. Probably one of the most important topics that we raised during the entire existence of our project. We want to talk about forgiveness.
Mahatma Gandhi said once: “Forgiving is more courageous than punishing. The weak can not forgive. Forgiveness is the prerogative of the strong.” But he was not original in these thoughts. Forgiveness is the basis of morality and cultural behavior in our society. Almost all religions advocate a large-hearted attitude of forgiveness and tolerance of others’ mistakes, even when they cause offense or injury (in the epigraph we decided to quote the scriptures revered by Muslims, Sikhs, Jews, Christians, and Confucians). Forgiveness is far preferable to discontent, which hurts and poisons the soul, far preferable to vengeance.
Despite that the centuries-proven moral norms are less and less considered and taken into account in our modern world, we want to prove that forgiveness has a scientifically proven, positive background from the point of view of conventional medicine and biology. Even if skeptics have no desire to believe philosophers and religious teachers, we hope that they will not argue against the scientific facts.
How is the forgiveness phenomenon defined by modern science? American psychologists E. L. Worthington and M. Sherer (1999) conceptualized forgiveness as a juxtaposition of positive emotions (i.e., empathy, sympathy, compassion, or love) against the negative emotions of unforgiveness. In the further statement (Worthington et al, 2007), forgiveness was also described as a cognitive and emotional process that eradicates chronic hostility, rumination, and their adverse effects.
Forgiveness improves overall physical and mental well-being, and especially cardiovascular health (Lawler et al. 2005; Friedberg et al 2007; Worthington et al. 2007; Chida and Steptoe 2008). Moreover, persistent seeking for forgiveness is associated with reduced drug and alcohol use, and “accidental” forgiveness (i.e., forgiveness due to some event) is also associated with cardiovascular improvements (Lawler-Row et al., 2008). Conversely, negative affect and chronic emotional stress undermine health (Hu and Gruber, 2008), worsen cardiovascular activity (Holt-Lunstad et al., 2008), and impair sleep quality (Stoia-Caraballo et al. 2008). Moreover, the negative stress stimulates the production of stress-associative hormones (Berry and Worthington, 2001), and are also associated with the development of clinical conditions such as depression (e.g., Nolen-Hoeksema and Morrow, 1991).
Several psychotherapeutic methods based specifically on forgiveness have been developed (Fitzgibbons, 1986; Reed and Enright, 2006). These approaches are specifically designed to help patients “to manage” anger and negative emotions. Several studies have shown the usefulness of forgiveness in resolving social and political disputes (Gentilone and Regidor, 1986; Enright et al., 1994).
Despite the importance of forgiveness in individual and social contexts, the neurobiological basis of this process is still under investigation. Recently, several studies have clearly shown that the process of forgiveness is directly related to the activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the coupled brain areas, most of them are directly involved in the cognitive regulation of emotions (Ricciardi et al (2013). Similar observations about the DLPFC activity and involvement in neurobiological processes of forgiveness were done by Brüne et al (2013) and Maier et al. (2019). In addition, forgiveness “helps” suppressing spontaneous aggressive behavior via the modulation of the prefrontal areas of the cerebral cortex (Pietrini et al, 2000; Chikazoe 2010).
Thus, one of the main players, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), is known. Knowing that new questions arise – in which processes this zone is also involved? Maybe this may give us at least a little hint of why forgiveness “forces” us to feel so special? Here is a brief list of the most significant DLPFC functions, showing how these regions are important for our cognitive and emotional well-being:
- The DLPFC is known for its involvement in the management of cognitive processes, including working memory, cognitive flexibility, and planning.
- The DLPFC is involved in moral decision making; for example, how to distribute limited resources.
- The DLPFC may be involved in the act of deception and lying.
- The DLPFC is probably involved in deductive, syllogistic reasoning.
- A disturbance in the DLPFC leads to a decrease in attention to the surroundings and to the lack of motivation to do things for themselves and/or for others.
To summarize, the philosophers, religious leaders, and simply good people are not wrong! Numerous studies show that forgiveness is a positive and healthy strategy that activates the brain regions, including those responsible for the key cognitive and emotional mechanisms. Forgiveness allows us to overcome the situations that would otherwise be the main sources of stress from a psychological and physiological point of view, and would severely worsen our health.
Ladies and Gentlemen! If you to blame for something, do not hesitate to ask for forgiveness! And, at least for the sake of your own health, forgive others!
References
Berry, J. W., and Worthington, E. L. Jr. (2001). Forgivingness, relationship quality, stress while imagining relationship events, and physical and mental health. J. Couns. Psychol. 48, 447–455. doi: 10.1037/0022-0167.48.4.447
Brüne M., Juckel G., Enzi B. (2013). “An eye for an eye”? Neural correlates of retribution and forgiveness. PLoS One 8:e73519. 10.1371/journal.pone.0073519
Chida, Y., and Steptoe, A. (2008). Positive psychological well-being and mortality: a quantitative review of prospective observational studies. Psychosom. Med. 70, 741–756. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0b013e31818105ba
Chikazoe, J. (2010). Localizing performance of go/no-go tasks to prefrontal cortical subregions. Curr. Opin. Psychiatry 23, 267–272. doi: 10.1097/YCO.0b013e3283387a9f
Enright, R. D., Wu, C. R., Olson, L., Chandler, J., Gassin, E., Freedman, S., и др. (1994). Piaget on the moral development of forgiveness—identity or reciprocity. Hum. Dev. 37, 63–80. doi: 10.1159/000278239
Fitzgibbons, R. P. (1986). The cognitive and emotive uses of forgiveness in the treatment of anger. Psychotherapy 23, 629–633. doi: 10.1037/h0085667
Friedberg JP, Suchday S, Shelov DV. The impact of forgiveness on cardiovascular reactivity and recovery. Int J Psychophysiol. 2007 Aug; 65(2):87-94
Gentilone, F., and Regidor, J. R. (1986). “The political dimension of reconciliation: a recent Italian experience,” in Forgiving (Special Issue), eds Florstein, C., Duquoc, A. (Concilium, April. Edinburgh: T & T Clark), 22–31.
Holt-Lunstad, J., Smith, T. W., and Uchino, B. N. (2008). Can hostility interfere with the health benefits of giving and receiving social support? The impact of cynical hostility on cardiovascular reactivity during social support interactions among friends. Annals Behav. Med. 35, 319–330. doi: 10.1007/s12160-008-9041-z
Hu, J., and Gruber, K. J. (2008). Positive and negative affect and health functioning indicators among older adults with chronic illnesses. Issues Ment. Health Nurs. 29, 895–911. doi: 10.1080/01612840802182938
Lawler, K. A., Younger, J. W., Piferi, R. L., Jobe, R. L., Edmondson, K. A., and Jones, W. H. (2005). The unique effects of forgiveness on health: an exploration of pathways. J.Behav. Med. 28, 157–167. doi: 10.1007/s10865-005-3665-2
Lawler-Row, K. A., Karremans, J. C., Scott, C., Edlis-Matityahou, M., and Edwards, L. (2008). Forgiveness, physiological reactivity and health: the role of anger. Int. J. Psychophysiology 68, 51–58. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2008.01.001
Maier MJ, Rosenbaum D, Haeussinger FB, Brüne M, Fallgatter AJ, Ehlis AC. Disinhibited Revenge – An fNIRS Study on Forgiveness and Cognitive Control.Front Behav Neurosci. 2019 Sep 26;13:223. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00223.
Nakamae T, Sakai Y, Abe Y, Nishida S, et al. Altered Fronto-Striatal Fiber Topography and Connectivity in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. PLoS One. 2014; 9(11): e112075.
Nolen-Hoeksema, S., and Morrow, J. (1991). A prospective study of depression and posttraumatic stress symptoms after a natural disaster: the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 61, 115–121. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.61.1.115
Pietrini, P., Guazzelli, M., Basso, G., Jaffe, K., and Grafman, J. (2000). Neural correlates of imaginal aggressive behavior assessed by positron emission tomography in healthy subjects. Am. J. Psychiatry 157, 1772–1781. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.157.11.1772
Reed, G. L., and Enright, R. D. (2006). The effects of forgiveness therapy on depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress for women after spousal emotional abuse. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 74, 920–929.
Ricciardi et al (2013) How the brain heals emotional wounds: the functional neuroanatomy of forgiveness. Front. Hum. Neurosci., 09 December 2013 https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00839
Stoia-Caraballo, R., Rye, M. S., Pan, W., Kirschman, K. J. B., Lutz-Zois, C., and Lyons, A. M. (2008). Negative affect and anger rumination as mediators between forgiveness and sleep quality. J. Behav. Med.31, 478–488. doi: 10.1007/s10865-008-9172-5
Worthington, E.L., Jr. and Wade, N.G. (1999). The social psychology of unforgiveness and forgiveness and implications for clinical practice. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 18, 385–418.
Worthington, E. L., Witvliet, C. V. O., Pietrini, P., and Miller, A. J. (2007). Forgiveness, health, and well-being: a review of evidence for emotional vs. decisional forgiveness, dispositional forgivingness, and reduced unforgiveness. J. Behav. Med. 30, 291–302.
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