What Does Forgiveness Have to Do With Depression?

How can forgiving help?

Forgiveness is vital to overcoming depression, according to a number of researchers and authors.

“What is the real spiritual connection between depression and forgiveness?” asks author Steve Marshall. “Is there a causal connection? Can depression be alleviated from a ‘heartfelt connectingly’ deep forgiveness of myself and of others made by myself?”

Yes, say researchers Michael J. Subkoviak, Robert D. Enright, Ching-Ru Wu, Elizabeth A. Gassin, Suzanne Freedman, Leanne M. Olson and Issidoros Sarinopoulos writing in the Journal of Adolescence. They observed 197 midwestern U.S. college students and 197 of their parents. They discovered that the college students were less forgiving.

They also had more anxiety than their parents.

The difference? Their parents had learned to forgive.