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| Lin Title and Introduction Article Critique This article is based on the potential benefits of forgiveness therapy. The authors, Lin et al, show interest in forgiveness therapy for inpatient substance-dependent clients and whether it will help to reduce anger, depression, anxiety, self-esteem, forgiveness, and vulnerability to drug use. Lin et al noticed that the level of anger and violence was higher in alcohol and other substance abusers in comparison to the general population, as recorded in previous studies. It is believed that certain triggers, anger and frustration, can cause relapse in both intrapersonal and interpersonal areas (Marlatt, 1985). Lin et al reviews previous study results based on the typical alcohol and drug therapy (Cognitive-Behavior therapy) where the participants are encouraged to be aware of their anger but not necessarily to decrease their anger or negative emotions. However, one study conducted by Reilly and Shopshire showed a decrease in levels of anger and an increase in anger control with a group of Pos -traumatic Stress disorder patients. The article refers to a group of researchers who have worked towards developing a new therapeutic approach to anger termed forgiveness therapy. They believe that unforgiveness can become problematic. The forgiveness therapy makes the recipients aware of forgiveness and not condoning of past injustices. The individual is given the choice to decide to forgive and learning the skills to forgive. According to the article, great results were found with this therapy of which are displayed and explained in detail.
Title Critique The title, Effects of Forgiveness Therapy on Anger, Mood, and Vulnerability to Substance Use Among Inpatient Substance-Dependent Clients, is sufficiently specific in that it refers to the therapy of forgiveness and exactly what will be altered as a result of the therapy. The title is concise with its purpose; however, it is more than fifteen words in length, but less than twenty. The variables, negative mood and the faith therapy, are named within the title to give clues of what the study consist of. There was no need to label types of variables, because there was not an excessive amount of variables used for this purpose. The title defines the type of participants, Substance-abuse in-patients, which are used in the study. There was not a mention of any specific use of a theory or theorist. Even though the title is lengthy, it does not reveal any of the results in the title name and the author(s) have avoided the use of yes or no questions within the title. This title is relevant and it clearly helps the reader to surmise what the article should pertain to.
Critique of Abstract The Abstract of the article is within the 120-250 American Psychological Association suggested (APA) word limit. The purpose is clearly implied within the abstract and that would be the benefits of Forgiveness Therapy on negative emotions (anger, anxiety, depression and more). The abstract certainly mentions highlights of the research methodology, which is to complete a predetermined amount of faith therapy sessions to measure, compare, and contrast the improvements with those who participated in traditional therapy. An overview of the results was included, but the researcher was careful to not include any titles of measures. The abstract did not contain any vague researcher references to implications nor to future research directions.
Critique of Literature Review The purpose of the literature review is to introduce the problem area, to establish its importance, provide an overview of the relevant literature, show how the current study will advance knowledge in the area, and to describe the researcher’s specific research questions, purposed, or hypotheses, which usually are stated in the last paragraph of the introduction (Pyrczak, 2008). The researcher identifies a problem of anger, violence, and other negative emotions that are present with those that are alcohol and drug abuser, and how traditional therapy often is not helpful to all participants. The researcher establishes that some individuals are not helped and remain affected by negative emotions and are more prone to return to addictive patterns. The researcher did not use any underlying theories and therefore there was no need to adequately describe one. There were many citations listed in the review literature, however, the flow of the article was from point to point and not from citation to citation. The introduction is informative from detail to detail, nevertheless, it is appropriate in length and therefore there is no need to have subsections or subheadings. The article is free from conceptual definition of key terms, except for a definition of forgiveness for participant understanding, because the researcher used common terms and concepts that are globally recognizable. The researcher has cited many sources for factual statements throughout the introduction and literature. The author also cites previous research data results allowing for easy reader verification. The introduction is effective and appropriate as far as understanding what the author was attempting to relay to the readers. However, it was difficult at times to really understand what the author was preparing to compare and contrast in relationship to the previous research data that was mentioned. There was a gap in the flow, interpretation, and correlation of past and present research data.
Critique of Research Questions According to Dr. Garzon, professor at Liberty University, there are four specific questions one should consider when critiquing a research article. Those questions are to be examined and answered based on the provided information. The first question addresses what the researcher is wondering? Based on this article, the researcher is wondering whether Faith therapy will be beneficial for residential substance-abuse treatment patients and if these individuals would demonstrate less anger, depression, anxiety, and vulnerability to substance use and more self-esteem than those receiving residential treatment… (Lin, et al., 2004). Second, is if the research hypotheses clearly stated. Yes, the hypotheses is clearly stated as
We hypothesized that individuals in residential treatment for alcohol and drug dependence, after receiving treatment augmented by FT, would demonstrate less anger, depression, anxiety, and vulnerability to substance use an more self-esteem than those receiving residential treatment augmented with a similar amount of a more standard regimen, alcohol and drug counseling (ADC), that was not focused on anger reduction. (Lin et. al. 2004) Next question is do these (hypotheses) flow clearly from the literature review? Based on the literature provided in the article the hypotheses does flow clearly and is purposeful. The last question that should be considered is whether the design is appropriate to investigate the hypotheses. Yes, based on the information in the article, the design is appropriate to investigate the hypotheses. However, this question could possibly be considered differently when persons of a researcher background are answering the question (i.e. peer reviewer).

References
Garzon, F. (n.d.). Research article critiques: Part 1. Liberty University.
Pyrczak, F. (2008). Evaluating research in academic journals: A practical guide to realistic evaluation. Glendale, CA: Pyrczak Publishing.