Why Is Forgiveness Important?

When individuals are hurt, they feel betrayal, anger, hatred and resentment and these negative emotions are noxious for our health.

According to research, forgiveness is important to reinstate our emotional and physical well-being: it decreases our blood pressure, reduces depression, stress and psychosomatic symptoms. It also helps to fight self-harm, self-criticism and addiction. Forgiveness does not just allow us to feel better in the present moment  but is also beneficial to long-term psychological success.

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When individuals forgive, they to let damaging feelings go and they become able to rediscover positive emotions such as compassion and tenderness. It’s usually through therapy that these emotions become accessible; therapy allows individuals to achieve a greater sense of empowerment.

The path of forgiveness represents a growth and can help us to reach a new well-being; it brings back calmness and serenity as well as the possibility to carry on with the path of our lives that was blocked before.

If we don’t learn to forgive, there could be negative consequences.

Many individuals have symptoms directly related to hurts, traumas or violence endured by significant persons such as parents, relatives or by their partner. These situations may be the imprinting for dysfunctional relational relationships. If we don’t learn to forgive this can become the base for psychopathology to grow and people could experience distress or more severe symptoms. In these cases forgiveness helps to elaborate the trauma, to close the unfinished business, to change the dysfunctional patterns of behaviour.