Summary
Emotional abuse is a form of abuse characterized by a person subjecting or exposing another to behavior that may result in psychological trauma, including anxiety, chronic depression, or post traumatic stress disorder. In the article written by Gayle L. Reed and Robert D. Enright, spousal emotional abuse has been reported by 35 percent of women in the United States. There are seven areas which have been identified as spousal psychological abuse. These areas are criticizing, ridiculing, jealous control, purposeful ignoring, threats of abandonment, and threats of harm and damage to personal property (). This article compares Forgiveness Therapy (FT), and Alternative Therapies (AT). Forgiveness therapy focuses on resentment, which can lead to depression, anxiety, and other negative psychological outcomes (). Based on the material that this writer has read, forgiveness is a decision to give up resentment and to be able to set aside selfishness, and to be able to acquire a sense of peace to move forward in their lives without reconciling with the person which abused them. There were 20 women ranging from 30 to 54 who had been psychologically abused, which participated in a research study. To be eligible to participate in this study, the woman had to have been emotionally abused, they had to be divorced or either separated permanently from their partner for at least 2 years. These woman ranged in race, ethnicity, education and work background. By participating in this study, Enright and Reed (2006) thought that if women used the forgiveness techniques they would see a decrease in depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress and an increase in her self-esteem and decision making process.