Victimhood, Vengefulness, and the Culture of Forgiveness

Victimhood, vengefulness and forgiveness are topics which are strongly felt in the everyday lives of many people but not investigated enough as subjects for psychoanalytic methods. In the case of victimhood, people may feel that suffering may be abused to the point of exempt of concern for others and self-justification of causing suffering to others. This form of abuse may arise guilt and/or anger and in some cases may result in no-win situations in which mutual aggression prevents any possibility of reconciliation. In the case of vengefulness, wishes for revenge might evoke fear, anger and moral indignation which eventually might push some people towards acting out vengefulness in a destructive way. Forgiveness might be suspected as an impossible illusion which undermines constructive vision and learning from experience. By writing this book the authors try to make these concepts acknowledged, understood dynamically and accepted emphatically. Victimhood, vengefulness and forgiveness represent a course of transformation from destructive emotions and attitudes to a prospect of reconciliation.