Coming to terms with our regrets.
This article focuses on the personal experience of regret and the importance of coming to terms with our regrets. It begins with a sermon preached by the first author in which the issue of regret is explored by means of a summary of the film The Big Kahuna, continues with a discussion of recent articles (Tomer and Eliason, Existential and spiritual issues in death attitudes, 2008; Mannarino et al., Existential and spiritual issues in death attitudes, 2008) on the concept of regret formulated by Landman (Landman, Regret: A theoretical and conceptual analysis, 1987; Regret: The persistence of the possible, 1993), and on regret therapy, and concludes with a pastoral care case in which a dying woman expresses both future-related and past-related regrets. The case is interpreted in light of regret therapy's emphasis on parabolic experiences and reframing techniques.
Carlin
Nathan
N
Department of Religious Studies, Rice University, MS-15, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251-1892, USA. nathan_carlin@yahoo.com
Capps
Donald
D
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001293:Attitude to Death; D004644:Emotions; D006801:Humans; D011573:Psychoanalytic Interpretation; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D035502:Trust