Searching the Soul: The Capacity of Forgiveness

Abstract

Lack of forgiveness can perpetuate trauma, harming an individual’s psychological and physical well-being. Scholars and clinicians have given much attention to the phenomenon of forgiveness, but how an individual achieves forgiveness has not been clearly defined in the literature, nor is it clear how the psyche and the soul interact to support true forgiveness. Therefore, this study explored the psychological and soulful aspects of forgiveness to understand how they influence the process of forgiveness and, ultimately, the role of forgiveness in an individual’s progress toward individuation. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was employed as the qualitative methodology to enable an in-depth exploration of five participants’ unique lived experiences of forgiveness, highlighting how individuals made personal meaning of the complex and transformative process of forgiveness in the aftermath of trauma. Four themes emerged from the participant interviews that offered a nuanced perspective on the intricacies of trauma, forgiveness, and healing. The findings of this study further the knowledge of psychological forgiveness and aid researchers and clinicians in understanding how the soul and the psyche interact to allow an individual to achieve true forgiveness, a necessary step in the process of individuation. This study deconstructed the simplistic notion that one can “just do forgiveness” and instead presents forgiveness as a nonlinear, complex journey that is integral to healing from interpersonal trauma and moving toward individuation.