Positive Responses to Benefit and Harm: Bringing Forgiveness and Gratitude Into Cognitive Psychotherapy

Bono, Giacomo; McCullough, Michael E.

doi:10.1891/088983906780639835

Cited by 34 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 51 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In the Deprexis program, one module focuses on difficult childhood memories. For example, the program explains techniques such as expressive writing [55-57], forgiveness [58], and acceptance of difficult memories [35]. …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effectiveness of a Novel Integrative Online Treatment for Depression (Deprexis): Randomized Controlled Trial

Meyer¹,

Berger²,

Caspar³

et al. 2009

J Med Internet Res

344

302

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Depression is associated with immense suffering and costs, and many patients receive inadequate care, often because of the limited availability of treatment. Web-based treatments may play an increasingly important role in closing this gap between demand and supply. We developed the integrative, Web-based program Deprexis, which covers therapeutic approaches such as behavioral activation, cognitive restructuring, mindfulness/acceptance exercises, and social skills training.Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of the Web-based intervention in a randomized controlled trial.Methods There were 396 adults recruited via Internet depression forums in Germany, and they were randomly assigned in an 80:20 weighted randomization sequence to either 9 weeks of immediate-program-access as an add-on to treatment-as-usual (N = 320), or to a 9-week delayed-access plus treatment-as-usual condition (N = 76). At pre- and post-treatment and 6-month follow-up, we measured depression (Beck Depression Inventory) as the primary outcome measure and social functioning (Work and Social Adjustment Scale) as the secondary outcome measure. Completer analyses and intention-to-treat analyses were performed.Results Of 396 participants, 216 (55%) completed the post-measurement 9 weeks later. Available case analyses revealed a significant reduction in depression severity (BDI), Cohen’s d = .64 (CI 95% = 0.33 - 0.94), and significant improvement in social functioning (WSA), Cohen’s d = .64, 95% (CI 95% = 0.33 - 0.95). These improvements were maintained at 6-month follow-up. Intention-to-treat analyses confirmed significant effects on depression and social functioning improvements (BDI: Cohen’s d = .30, CI 95% = 0.05 - 0.55; WSA: Cohen’s d = .36, CI 95% = 0.10 - 0.61). Moreover, a much higher percentage of patients in the intervention group experienced a significant reduction of depression symptoms (BDI: odds ratio [OR] = 6.8, CI 95% = 2.90 - 18.19) and recovered more often (OR = 17.3, 95% CI 2.3 - 130). More than 80% of the users felt subjectively that the program had been helpful.Conclusions This integrative, Web-based intervention was effective in reducing symptoms of depression and in improving social functioning. Findings suggest that the program could serve as an adjunctive or stand-alone treatment tool for patients suffering from symptoms of depression.Trial Registration International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN): 64953693; http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN64953693/64953693 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/5ggzvTJPD)

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effectiveness of a Novel Integrative Online Treatment for Depression (Deprexis): Randomized Controlled Trial

Meyer¹,

Berger²,

Caspar³

et al. 2009

J Med Internet Res

344

302

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Cautiously guiding depressed patients to attend to their current important possessions and strengths and to appreciate their importance can lead to decreased sadness, and for religious patients, thanksgiving and gratitude towards God is one way of doing so. Research so far has shown that gratitude is incompatible with negative emotions (anxiety and depression) and pathological conditions, and may even offer protection against psychiatric disorders (Bono & McCullough, 2006).…”

Section: Other Helpful Religious Conceptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive Therapy of Religious Depressed Patients: Common Concepts Between Christianity and Islam

Vasegh

2011

J Cogn Psychother

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The two most prevalent religions in the world are Christianity and Islam, each having more than one billion followers. It is well known that religious beliefs, including Christian and Islamic thoughts and beliefs, affect the feelings and behaviors of religious people. Many times, the psychopathological thoughts have religious contents. On the other hand, some studies have reported faster recovery of religious anxious and depressed patients by adding religious techniques, cognitions, and behaviors to the usual psychotherapy. This article discusses several religious thoughts and beliefs common to Christianity and Islam that the author has found useful in cognitive therapy of religious depressed patients and offers three case examples to illustrate how to use them. A set of such religious thoughts and concepts has important potential implications: more effective psychotherapy of religious Christian or Muslim patients, decreasing biases towards the patients from the other religion, and designing questionnaires and manuals for assessing the role of these thoughts in treatment or prevention of psychiatric disorders.

show abstract

“…Specifically, such pre-existing behavioral repertoires for forgiveness may enhance the activation of forgiving cognitions and emotions while interrupting the activation of negative cognitions (i.e., rumination and blame attribution) and emotions (i.e., anger). The cognitive work within such process involves the forgiver reconstructing a new narrative about the unjust event, creating new predictions and expectations (i.e., reframing; Worthington 2007), generating generous attributions (Bono and McCullough 2006;Darby and Schlenker 1982), making positive assumptions (Gordon and Baucom 1998), and disengaging from rumination (Berry et al 2005).…”

Section: Blame Attributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Workplace Harassment Intensity and Revenge: Mediation and Moderation Effects

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study examines the mediating role of rumination, state anger, and blame attribution, and the moderating role of trait forgiveness in the relationship between workplace harassment intensity and revenge among employed students at a medium-sized Midwestern U.S. university (N = 310) and full-time employees from various industries in Shanghai, China (N = 251). We tested the proposed model using techniques described by Hayes (Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis, The Guilford Press, New York, 2013). Results within both samples suggested that workplace harassment intensity is positively associated with both major and minor revenge. Results of multiple mediation tests showed that state anger and blame attribution mediated the relationships between workplace harassment intensity and both types of revenge behavior. Furthermore, trait forgiveness moderated the relationship between blame attribution and major revenge.

show abstract

Positive Responses to Benefit and Harm: Bringing Forgiveness and Gratitude Into Cognitive Psychotherapy

Cited by 34 publications

References 51 publications

Effectiveness of a Novel Integrative Online Treatment for Depression (Deprexis): Randomized Controlled Trial

Effectiveness of a Novel Integrative Online Treatment for Depression (Deprexis): Randomized Controlled Trial

Cognitive Therapy of Religious Depressed Patients: Common Concepts Between Christianity and Islam

Workplace Harassment Intensity and Revenge: Mediation and Moderation Effects

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About