Impact of forgiveness on depression in young adults

Abstract

Depression has the highest burden as it is the leading cause of disability worldwide in terms of the total number of years lost due to disability. Forgiveness is a character strength and the present study explores if there is a relationship between forgiveness and depression. For this purpose, 81 (38 males and 43 females) adults between the ages of 20-40 years were studied, of these 81 participants, 51 individuals did not have depression, 26 individuals were non clinically depressed, and 4 individuals were clinically depressed. The participants under study were found to be from various parts of the country, more specifically, the sample was taken from Delhi and NCR region; Jaipur, Rajasthan; Bangalore, Karnataka. Participants who were clinically depressed patients were taken from Sapandana Nursing Home, Bangalore. The researcher used Heartland’s Dispositional Forgiveness Scale and Beck’s Depression Inventory -II (BDI-II) to assess the level of forgiveness and the severity of depression among the participants, respectively. The findings of the present study revealed that Forgiveness and Depression have a negatively significant correlation. There are gender differences in the level of Forgiveness, men are likely to be more forgiving of themselves and situations than women. In regard to gender differences seen in Depression, women more likely to be Depressed than men. In terms of group comparison, there was a significant difference in the level of Forgiveness among individuals with no Depression and Individuals with Depression. However, no significant difference was obtained in the level of Forgiveness between individuals with Clinical and Non-Clinical Depression.