Unforgiveness can not only be destructive to a person's spiritual health, but also his or her physical well-being.

As doctors learn more about these effects, many are beginning to integrate "forgiveness therapy" into certain treatments.

Jayne Valseca said if she hadn't learned to forgive, she may not even be alive today.

She and her husband Eduardo were in Mexico when he was kidnapped and tortured. Valseca eventually negotiated his release, yet she had trouble moving on from the ordeal. She describes the experience in her book, We Have Your Husband.

"I knew that the stress was taking a toll on my immune system," Valseca recalled.

The Physical Toll

After eight months, her husband was released, but she soon found out she had another battle to fight.

"I was almost not surprised, yet completely devastated to hear the words, 'You have stage four breast cancer,'" she said.

Valseca prayed for healing even though doctors gave her a death sentence.

"I did collect more information, and in one of the books I read, I heard about Cancer Treatment Centers of America and I thought, 'Wow, this sounds like a fantastic place,'" she said.

Valseca added "forgiveness therapy" to her cancer treatment with Dr. Michael Barry, a pastor and author of the book The Forgiveness Project.

"Harboring these negative emotions, this anger and hatred, creates a state of chronic anxiety," Barry explained.

"Chronic anxiety very predictably produces excess adrenaline and cortisol, which deplete the production of natural killer cells which is your body's foot soldier in the fight against cancer," he said.

Source: CBN News | Lorie Johnson