ABSTRACT
Dwelling on regrets as people age and review their life is a common occurrence. This chapter distinguishes between regrets of commission and omission and describes their differential effect on well-being. When a person is self-blaming, clinicians can use the Justified Decision Perspective to help the person examine the context surrounding their choice and judge themselves based only on data that was available at the time they made the choice they now regret. Other strategies noted include encouraging people to look for “silver linings” that resulted from their regretted choice and life lessons from what has occurred that can be applied in the present.
