Post Traumatic Growth: Journey Towards Healing

Trauma is an emotional response to horrifying and shocking events, leading to serious mental health issues.

Flashbacks, grief, anxiety, trouble sleeping, and depression are the side effects of trauma. Healing from the trauma always requires time and work on oneself; it’s not an easy road.

Let’s explore how growth can take place after trauma.

What is Post-Traumatic Growth

Most of us heard about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and only a fewer knows about Post-Traumatic Growth or PTG, but there is such a thing. It is a theory that was given by psychologists Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun in the mid-1990s.

According to Howard’s business review after experiencing trauma, growth happens naturally without any psychotherapy. It can occur in five ways; emotional regulation, disclosure, narrative development, service, and education (Tedeschi, 2020).

A case study shows that people who experience COVID-19 infection adopt a more positive approach. Not only in their values, interpersonal relationships, and personal growth, they also become more conscious about their healthcare and lifestyles (Rajandram et al., 2011).

When people go through traumatic events, these events often lead them toward self-discovery and personal growth. These events can be catalysts for positive change, offers new pathways and possibilities, and improve one’s relationship, appreciation for life, and great spiritual and personal strength.

Five Dimensions of Growth

To evaluate to what extent growth has occurred after trauma psychologists seek out positive responses in five dimensions.

1. Appreciation of Life

People who go through challenges of trauma and hard times find themselves more grateful for everything they have in their life. They become more grateful and appreciative. Their perspective on life changes completely. They start to cherish their life, family, friends, and people around them.

2. Personal Strength

Trauma often leads to personal strength as people learn how to cope with challenges and difficulties. Their ability to cope with the stress of trauma and challenges increases. They become better at distracting themselves from pain while going through it. Most of them find their strength in sports, exercises, or helping others.

3. New Possibilities

When positive changes occur in people’s lives after experiencing trauma, a shift occurs in their perspective. Things that were meaningful in their lives before trauma become meaningless after experiencing trauma. In other words, reprioritization of values occurs in their lives.

4. Relating to Others

Social support is immensely important in healing from trauma stress. We surround ourselves with people such as family, friends, and social circles where we feel seen, heard, and loved. After experiencing trauma people feel more connected to others. People also inspire to help others with compassion who have experienced trauma.

5. Spiritual Change

People who go through trauma, often experience death so closely, and their perspective toward life changes. their perspective about how they see themselves and the world changes and they encounter spiritual meanings of life. As Ernest Hemingway said,

The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places

Who Experiences Growth After Trauma

Not every person indeed experiences growth after trauma. A person with certain traits experiences growth after trauma such as openness and acceptance towards challenges and trauma stress. Extroverts are more likely to adopt positive changes after experiencing trauma as compared to introverts.

On the other hand, people with resilience are less likely to adopt changeable patterns. For people who are already resilient when they experience trauma, it’s hard to change their belief system. So, they won’t experience growth after trauma, explains Tedeschi.

These are the key elements of post-traumatic growth

• Openness toward new experiences
• Acceptance

Women are more likely to adopt growth after experiencing trauma as compared to men, says Tedeschi but there is a very small difference.

Another factor could be age, as children under 8 are less likely to adopt growth after trauma. Because their cognitive ability to adopt growth is less. On the other hand, people in adolescence and early adulthood are more likely to experience positive changes in their lives.

Why Does Trauma Lead to Growth?

When people go through trauma, it can be very painful for them as trauma forces people to confront difficult challenges and develop new coping skills. Experiencing trauma can give people new perspectives on life, which can lead to personal growth and a greater appreciation for life. For people, life becomes more meaningful and cherishable.

According to Tedeschi about one-half to two-thirds of people experience growth after trauma.

Signs of Growth After Trauma

Tedeschi and Calhoun in 1996 had presented a model. According to this model, people who go through negative events or traumatic events often adopt a positive approach toward life (Tedeschi & LG, 1996). There are several indicators of traumatic growth.

• A greater sense of resilience and personal strength
• A deeper appreciation for life
• A more positive outlook toward future
• A greater understanding of purpose in life
• Improved relationships with others
• Increased spiritual growth
• A greater understanding of meaningful life

How can We Heal from Trauma?

When a person goes through trauma it often leads him to various kinds of growth but he may also face PTSD.

PTSD and growth after trauma go hand in hand. PTSD and trauma may differ in duration and severity. Several ways lead us toward healing from trauma.

Self-care (Emotional/Physical)

Self-care can be an important part of healing because it can help people develop the resilience and coping skills needed to overcome the challenges of trauma. Self-care activities such as meditation, exercise, or therapy lead people toward healing. People can learn to manage their stress and anxiety, which can help them feel more in control of their lives.

Additionally, self-care can help people develop a greater sense of self-compassion and self-awareness, which can help them build more meaningful relationships with others.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy is a type of psychotherapy that deals with a range of mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, drug use problems, marital problems, and more. CBT plays a major role in healing trauma and leads toward growth after trauma. CBT is typically a short-term treatment that can be extremely effective for many people.

The major goal of CBT is to make individuals identify and change their negative and unhelpful patterns of thoughts and behavior to improve their overall well-being.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR) is a psychotherapy approach that is used to treat trauma, PTSD, and other distressing life experiences.

This therapy is involved guiding a patient through a series of eye movements or tapping sensations while they focus on traumatic memories. By doing so brain process traumatic memories in a way that reduces the emotional intensity of the memory.

Conclusion

Most people experience various traumas in their lives and it indeed is painful for them. Such traumas cease their life activities and people become dysfunctional.

They become unable to do their daily routine work and task. But life never ceases instead it goes on. Where trauma effect life’s activities it also offers people a positive approach towards life and their perspective on life and the world around them changes completely. They become more appreciative and grateful even for little things in their lives. They feel more compassionate toward others and find their lives more meaningful.

People who go on with the flow of life instead of clinging to their past and are extroverts are more likely to adopt PTG. The journey toward healing isn’t an easy road to walk on. It requires self-care, and supporting family, and friends. If symptoms become more severe one should seek a professional therapist and therapies such as CBT and EMDR are more helpful in the treatment of trauma.