The present study evaluated the effectiveness of forgiveness therapy with abused early adolescent females in Pakistan. Eight female victims of child abuse between the ages of 11-12 years living in the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau in Lahore, Pakistan were randomly assigned into either an experimental or control group. The experimental group received forgiveness therapy twice a week for 4 months while the control group received treatment-as-usual for the span of 4 months. All participants were measured on the levels of forgiveness (Enright Forgiveness Inventory), anger (Anger Scale), and hope (Hope Scale) at pretest, posttest, and 1-year follow-up where each testing consisted of 4 consecutive assessments with a 1-week interval. At the 1-year follow-up, the experimental group, when compared with the control group, showed statistically higher levels of forgiveness and hope and a significantly lower level of anger. Findings in this study are promising, showing preliminary support of forgiveness therapy as a new treatment tool for early adolescent victims of abuse and in a culture in which forgiveness therapy never has been examined to date.

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In the burgeoning literature of forgiveness, self-forgiveness is an aspect that has not received as much attention as other areas of research on forgiveness. Self-forgiveness is important in dealing with negative feelings toward the self when one violates the conscience. However, because criticisms have emerged against this construct, we attempt a theological and psychological defense of self-forgiveness by addressing following four questions: (a) Is self-forgiveness the same as or different from divine forgiveness? (b) What is the nature of self-forgiveness? (c) Can we rationally address the criticisms of self-forgiveness? (d) How does self-forgiveness interact with divine and person-to-person forgiveness? After addressing these questions, we delineate four implications for counselors working with clients struggling to forgive themselves. Self-forgiveness, as one form of the virtue of forgiveness, now needs to be opened up more widely and deeply for more clients, and their emotional health may be further enhanced by this experience that frees them from self-condemnation when guided by a counselor who knows the essence of what self-forgiveness is and is not.

Despite the traumatic effects of acid violence on its victims, treatment options are very limited. The present study was aimed at examining the efficacy of a forgiveness intervention with female survivors of acid attack violence in Pakistan. Female acid attack victims in Pakistan were randomized to either a forgiveness group (n = 8) or a treatment‐as‐usual (TAU; n = 8) control group. The forgiveness group received twice‐a‐week forgiveness sessions for 4 months, whereas the TAU group either received typical psychological treatment sessions for acid attack victims or no treatment. All participants were assessed on their levels of forgiveness, anger, anxiety, depression, and hope four times prior to the 4‐month intervention period, twice after the intervention period, and once at the 1‐year follow‐up. Posttreatment, the forgiveness intervention group showed greater improvement in hope, anger, anxiety, and depression when compared with the TAU group. Upon further examinations, both groups improved on forgiveness from pretreatment to posttreatment, but the forgiveness group had a higher baseline. From pretreatment to the 12‐month follow‐up, the forgiveness group, when compared with the TAU group, showed greater improvement in all areas except for depression. This is the first study that examined the effects of a forgiveness intervention for acid attack victims in Pakistan. Results showing the improvement posttreatment as well as over a 1‐year period posttreatment are encouraging.

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With forgiveness therapy increasing in popularity, it is clear that understanding what forgiveness is and is not seems increasingly crucial. Personality approaches to conceptualizing forgiveness have become popular, but cautions now are necessary because of the possibility of distorting the meaning of the construct, thus possibly leading to therapist and client confusion. To address this possibly conceptual confusion about the essence of forgiveness, we draw on the philosophical, virtue-ethics tradition of Aristotle. We argue here that forgiveness, at its core, is a moral virtue. As a moral virtue, forgiveness cannot be dichotomized into either "state" or "trait," and conceptualizing as such will result in evaluating and measuring something else that is not forgiveness. We also discuss why the distinction between state and trait forgiveness needs to be taken cautiously and why that matters to clients. We suggest how mature forgiveness can be more accurately assessed, and finally we discuss implications for therapeutic practice.

The school community may be important in fostering peace within and between people. A major goal of school discipline is to help students develop and learn how to get along in a peaceful way. Given the historic emphasis on justice in school discipline and within peace education programs, we propose the novel idea of "school as a just and merciful community." In this qualitative research study, a series of questions were asked to teachers in the United States in 2000 (N ϭ 69) and 2015 (N ϭ 49) and in China in 2015 (N ϭ 116) to explore their perspectives on the feasibility of the just and merciful community (JMC) approach. The majority of those surveyed across time and culture saw justice alone as insufficient for a peaceful school community. A hybrid of justice and mercy within schools was a shared view. The JMC in school settings may be one path to peace. Public Significance StatementPeace education may be more complete if both justice and mercy are part of the disciplinary process of schools. Justice by itself, as a traditional method of discipline in schools, will not necessarily address the resentments that can build up in both those offended and those offending. Mercy offers a second chance and the recognition and acknowledgment that many carry emotional pain which must be addressed for thriving in the school setting.