Journal of Marital and Family Therapy July 2002,VOl. 28, NO. 3,285-298 “LANGUAGING” FACTORS AFFECTING CLIENTS’ ACCEPTANCE OF FORGIVENESS INTERVENTION IN MARITAL THERAPY Mark H. Butler, Samuel K. Dahlin, and Stephen T. Fife Brigham Young University Forgiveness is a signijicant intervention for healing interpersonal injury. Yet therapists do not often useforgiveness intervention.Employing a semanticperspective and a survey design (n = 307), this study investigated whether the language used to rationalize forgiveness intervention (set at $ve levels: personal growth, relationship reconciliation, spiritual issue, others’ growth, and pardoningkondoning) may affect its acceptability. Gendel; problem type, and choice were also included in the analyses, Overall, forgiveness was found to be an acceptable intervention. A pardoningkondoning rationale led to signijicantly lower acceptability ratings. Other results are discussed. We conclude that therapists should be less apprehensive about using forgiveness, but need to inform themselves better concerning its purpose, process, and articulation. Among a clinical population, interpersonalhurt in both past and present relationships is common. This hurt may produce depression, anger, bitterness, and/or conflict (McCullough & Worthington, 1994a). Without treatment, the client may suffer twice-nce with the original offense and then again with the resentment harnessed toward the offender (Enright & The Human Development Study Group, 1991b). Forgiveness is one possible therapy intervention that may be useful in overcoming and resolving interpersonal hurt. Since the mid-l980s, the literature on forgiveness in psychotherapy has rapidly grown (Walrond-Skinner, 1998). Forgiveness has been reported to be an effective therapeutic intervention for a variety of different conditions and situations, including anger and depression (Fitzgibbons, 1986), catharsis and peace with cancer patients (Phillips & Osborne, 1989), guilt (Joy, 1985), family-of-origin issues (Hope, 1987), sexual abuse and compulsions (Freedman & Enright, 1996), and marital therapy (Worthington & DiBlasio, 1990). Forgiveness has also been identified as one of the top 10 characteristicsof a long-term first marriage (Fenell, 1993). Thus, forgiveness appears to demonstrate clear potential to bring about individual and interpersonalhealing, through removing emotional burdens, bringing peace, and in some cases restoring relationships (Enright & The Human Development Group, 1991b).Although there have also been criticisms of forgiveness intervention (Bass & Davis, 1988; Engel, 1989; Forward, 1989), there are yet no empirical studies supporting this presumptive position. Surprisingly, although forgiveness has received empirical as well as theoretical, theological, and lay support, research indicates that forgiveness is still not widely used in therapy or widely researched (DiBlasio, 1992; DiBlasio & Proctor, 1993). This may be due in part to conceptual confusion regarding forgiveness. A variety of both lay and scholarly definitions for forgiveness contribute to ambiguity and confusion regarding what forgiveness is (DiBlasio, 1998), and perhaps to ambivalence regarding its use for ~ ~~~~ ~ Mark H. Butler, Samuel K. Dahlin, and Stephen T. Fife, Marriage and Family Therapy Program, Brigham Young University. The authors express their appreciation to the Family Studies Center at Brigham Young University for their funding of this research. An earlier version of this paper was presented as a poster at the AAMFT Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, October 1999. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed Mark H. Butler at 262 TLRB P.O. Box 28601, Provo, UT, 84602- 8601. Email: Mark-Butler@byu.edu. July 2002 JOURNAL OF MARITAL AND FMILY THERAPY 285