Faculty Publications

A Voice Of Forgiveness: One Incest Survivor's Experience Forgiving Her Father

Document Type

Article

Keywords

A moral approach to incest, Case study, Educational intervention, Forgiveness, Process model

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Journal of Family Psychotherapy

Volume

10

Issue

4

First Page

37

Last Page

60

Abstract

Forgiveness is not something that most incest survivors or those who write about incest think about or deem worthy. If forgiveness is mentioned in the context of incest it is usually misunderstood and advised against. However, the concept of person to person forgiveness has become more popular in the past ten years as illustrated in the multitude of books and articles written on the topic. The purpose of this paper is to describe one woman's participation in an educational intervention for incest survivors, using forgiveness as the goal, and the consequences that forgiveness has had on this woman's life. This paper may prove useful for therapists working with incest survivors and other individuals who have been deeply hurt by a family member. The paper concludes with guidelines for therapists who may be interested in implementing a forgiveness intervention with their own clients. © 1999 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.

Department

Department of Educational Psychology and Foundations

Original Publication Date

1-1-1999

DOI of published version

10.1300/J085v10n04_04

Link to Full Text

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