Journal Article Review 1

Journal Article Review

name

Liberty University

Summary

The article I chose to read is “The Effects of Forgiveness Therapy on Depression, Anxiety, and Posttraumatic Stress for Women after Spousal Emotional Abuse”, (Reed & Enright, 2006). When it comes to emotional abuse among women, it’s a problem. Women are suffering from this type of abuse from not just spouses but a significant other. Abuse in a relationship has been known to cause depression, PTSD, and anxiety to name a few. There weren’t any programs in play to help women with these issues. In this article Gayle L. Reed and Robert D. Enright will go over how effective forgiveness therapy can be used for abused women. This particular type of therapy is designed to help women forgive and move on after being involved in a volatile relationship. Some women feel stuck after leaving and aren’t sure how to move on with their lives. Some women even blame themselves for the abuse given to them. Forgiveness therapy or FT can be used for this. “Forgiveness Therapy directly targets ongoing resentment, which can lead to depression, anxiety, and other negative psychological outcomes”, (Enright & Fitzgibbons, 2000). “Forgiveness Therapy posits that although anger is a justifiable, initial problem-solving response to severe wrongdoing, as in the case of emotional abuse, lingering resentment can compromise a person's emotional health and decision making” (Reed & Enright, 2006). This study used 20 emotionally abused women from the Midwest who were either separated or divorced from their spouse. All of them had volunteered from a newspaper ad posting.

Reflection

When I was deciding which article to write about, I couldn’t help but feel drawn to this one in particular. I too was in an abusive relationship that lasted longer than it should have. I got married when I was 20 and he was 37. We met when I first joined the Army and got to my first duty station. He was about to retire and seemed really...