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Practicing Forgiveness: What Happens Emotionally and Physically When We Forgive
Charlotte vanOyen Witvliet
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We think of forgiveness as a spiritual and relational act, but it's also a psychophysiological act, said Charlotte vanOyen Witvliet. Forgiveness and "unforgiveness" have a measurable effect on the body and the mind, which vanOyen Witvliet and others have studied in a clinical setting.

"Forgiveness impacts physical health because we are embodied beings," vanOyen Witvliet said. "Every thought, behavior, and emotion involves the body."

VanOyen Witvliet began with a qualification about what forgiveness is and what it is not. Forgiveness is not, she said, "forgetting, minimizing, excusing, condoning ... or limited to times we receive apologies and witness repentance." What forgiveness is, she said, is the turning away from grudges and bitter ruminations in favor of "facing and embracing ... the offender's humanity and need for grace," genuinely wishing for the good of the offender, and praying for redemption. The highest ideal of forgiveness is not only to forgive, vanOyen Witvliet said, but "to cultivate the forgiving heart so it becomes a way of life, a way of responding to the many hurts in our lives."

While forgiveness is a spiritual virtue, it is also a physical phenomenon, as vanOyen Witvliet has studied. Her work with Vietnam combat veterans suggested those who had difficulty forgiving themselves and others were more prone to suffer from depression and more severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and to exhibit traits of anxiety and hostility.

Studies of the physiological effects of hostility show that it can cause an excessive release of stress hormones (a factor in heart disease) and a weakening of the parasympathetic nervous system and immune system. Hostility can also lead to risky behaviors such as smoking, over-eating, and excessive consumption of alcohol, and can erode social support networks that edify mental and physical health.

VanOyen Witvliet then presented the findings of a study she published with two collaborators in the journal Psychological Science on "Forgiveness, Feelings, and Psychology." The study monitored the brow movements, heart rates, sweat production, and other physical processes of 35 females and 36 males.

Participants were asked to identify a person who had caused them emotional offense, and then to focus on various feelings toward that person: pain, a grudge, empathy, and forgiveness. The results were striking: participants reported feeling higher levels of satisfaction and control over their offender when feeling empathy and forgiveness rather than when feeling pain and nursing grudges. In addition to what the participants themselves reported, measurements showed that their faces held more tension above the brow and under the eye when experiencing unforgiving feelings, and that they had higher heart rate, blood pressure, and sweat levels-physiological responses associated with stress.

Compared with the unforgiving feelings, vanOyen Witvliet said, "Forgiveness brought greater positive emotion, greater perceived control, and less physiological stress."

She concluded by emphasizing that these results should not be taken as the purpose of forgiveness-and, in fact, that research suggests that misguided motivation to forgive is ineffective in producing these desired physical results. Instead, vanOyen Witvliet said, "Our motivation to forgive ought to flow out of gratitude to the One who grants us forgiveness, who calls us to forgive, and who is our source of strength in forgiving."

-Nathan Bierma

Related Resources:
vanOyen Witvliet, C, TE Ludwig, and KL Vander Laan. "Granting forgiveness or harboring grudges: implications for emotion, physiology, and health." Psychological Science 12.2 (2001): 117-23.
Abstract and MeSH terms

"Choosing Forgiveness." Interview with Charlotte vanOyen Witvliet on Inner Compass. Audio and video available.

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