Adolescents and emerging adults with non-suicidal self-injury: forgiveness viewed from Enright’s theory

Objective This study explored the forgiveness process among adolescents and emerging adults with a history of NSSI living in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, using Enright’s model of forgiveness as an interpretive framework.Methods A qualitative photovoice design was used. Five participants (three women, two men) aged 18 to 24 years with a history of NSSI were recruited through clinician referral and snowball sampling. Over a 10-day period, participants took photographs representing their experiences of emotional pain, forgiveness and support, and each then took part in an individual semi-structured interview. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, with the four phases of Enright’s model used as sensitising concepts.Results Four themes emerged: adverse childhood experiences as the origin of emotional injury; motivation for forgiveness as self-renewal; forgiving behaviour put into action; and variation in forgiveness as a hallmark of transformation. Participants distinguished between forgiveness that felt outwardly performed or incomplete and forgiveness that felt internally resolved.Conclusion Participants described forgiveness as a gradual, uneven, and effortful process that contributed to emotional relief and steadier relationships with others. These exploratory findings, may have relevance for compassion-focused and trauma-informed work with young people who self-injure.