ABSTRACT
The work of forgiveness is actually part of a larger tradition of Restoration Therapy (Hargrave & Pfitzer, 2011). In the Restoration Therapy model, we concentrate on the recovery of as much love and trustworthiness as possible and feasible by working through individual recognition of patterns called “the pain cycle,” which is the familiarization of a client with his or her primary emotions and self-reactive sequences. After a client becomes familiar enough with this pain cycle to be able to recognize destructive emotions and behaviors, the therapeutic work usually shifts to helping him or her focus on empowerment and responsibility in taking charge and regulating the primary emotions through self-understanding, deciding the messages that he or she would like to integrate into his or her identity and sense of safety, and then utilizing mindfulness to move those beliefs and regulated emotions into more peaceful and effective behaviors with relationships. Restoration Therapy is a methodology that makes the most of the understanding and insight that can come from understanding attachment and early family of origin experiences. It also focuses on the current psychological work in avoiding damaging actions by effectively providing a means of negative emotional regulation. Finally, Restoration Therapy takes advantage of the robust literature and research on the practices and changes that can be achieved by mindfulness.
