Forgiveness and Mental Health

Abstract

Investigations of the effects of forgiveness on positive and poor mental health proliferated during the last decade. In the present chapter, we build upon a prior review by Toussaint and Webb (2005) in which a mediation model was described to illustrate how five primary mediators—social support, interpersonal functioning, health behaviors, personal control, and rumination—connect unforgiveness and mental health. While Toussaint and Webb's empirical foundation consisted of only 13 correlational studies, research on forgiveness and mental health has accelerated since the time of their analysis. In this chapter, we report a decade review.