Comparison of Forgiveness in Clinical Depressed, Non-Clinical Depressed and Normal People

The goal of this study was to compare Forgiveness in normal, non-clinical depressed and clinical depressed people. 151 individuals including 31 clinical depressed, 60 non-clinical depressed and 60 normal people were asked to complete Enright Forgiveness Inventory (EFI; Enright et al., 1991) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, 1979). Result revealed that normal group have been more forgiving than non-clinical depressed group. There was no significant difference between non- clinical depressed and clinical depressed group in forgiveness. Forgiving others protects people against the negative effect of anger, hatred and revenge and prevents them from becoming depressed.