What Is Post-Traumatic Growth?
Traumatic experiences don’t always have to result in long-term negative consequences. Research proves that exponential growth can actually result from traumatic events instead. Here’s how:
After a decade and a half of war, many people are familiar with the term post-traumatic stress (PTS). However, few are familiar with the concept of post-traumatic growth (PTG). Instead of viewing veterans as damaged goods, we need to start viewing them as leaders who have grown as a result of life-changing experiences.
PTS is a common set of symptoms such as heightened awareness, re-experiencing of traumatic events, and numbness or avoidance from things or places that are reminders of the trauma. It is a natural set of responses to an unnatural series of events. However, as our veterans have returned home from war, PTS has become negatively associated with anger, severe depression and suicide. Perhaps it is possible that experiencing traumatic events can actually provide strong benefits, if managed properly.
There is another, less commonly known form of post-traumatic experience and it is called post-traumatic growth (PTG). With PTG, those who have experienced severe traumatic events actually find themselves better able to grow interpersonally as a result. It refers to more than just optimism or resilience. The term was coined in 1995 by UNC researchers Richard Tedeschi, PhD and Lawrence Calhoun, PhD. Their goal was to look at how traumatic events can actually result in exponential growth.
According to UNC Charlotte, post-traumatic growth tends to occur in five general areas:
- New opportunities or possibilities in life
- Increased sense of personal strength
- Change in relationships with others
- Greater appreciation for life in general
- Deepening of spiritual life or understanding
“Sometimes people who must face major life crises develop a sense that new opportunities have emerged from the struggle, opening up possibilities that were not present before. A second area is a change in relationships with others. Some people experience closer relationships with some specific people, and they can also experience an increased sense of connection to others who suffer. A third area of possible change is an increased sense of one’s own strength — “if I lived through that, I can face anything”. A fourth aspect of posttraumatic growth experienced by some people is a greater appreciation for life in general. The fifth area involves the spiritual or religious domain. Some individuals experience a deepening of their spiritual lives, however, this deepening can also involve a significant change in one’s belief system” — UNC
In an interview with BrainLine Military, Richard Tedeschi made the following statements, which brilliantly summarize the mindset needed in order to grow and thrive in the face of extreme adversity and trauma:
“… The type of people who may tend to experience PTG are those who would actively approach difficulty rather an avoid it. Someone who is open to change, open to the novelty and serendipity of life. People who can accept that bad things happen, that they can no longer do certain things, but who focus on engaging in the things that they can still do. And people who are open to new opportunities … possibilities and choices that may not have presented themselves before the tragedy.”
He goes on to talk about the importance of reflection, support and seeking help: “To move toward PTG, you have to go through a phase of intense reflection. A person has to get through the emotional pain following a serious injury or trauma, a phase that is necessary but is non-productive in moving forward. Once dealing with the feelings of loss, anger, and other emotional pain is done, a person can then reflect and begin to let in opportunities for change and growth. A lot of this process depends on the type of support a person receives. If you are surrounded by loving people who are encouraging change and reflection, you will be in a better spot to grow than if you are surrounded by people who are naysayers to your ideas of how you might want to change and grow.
Most people who have traumatic events don’t get professional psychological help. They may instead rely on family and friends, or community. And again, the attitude and support of those people will play a huge role in a person’s ability to grow post-tragedy.”
In this video clip, Secretary of Defense James Mattis shares his view of PTS and PTG. As he says, “… I would just say there is one misperception of our veterans and that is they are somehow damaged goods. I don’t buy it. And I think that that kind of self-pity, while victimhood in America is exalted, I don’t think our veterans should join those ranks.”
One major advantage of post-traumatic growth is a reduction in total stress experienced and an improvement in recovery response time to traumatic events in the future. For instance, if you have learned to deal with close personal loss in a healthy and positive way, then it is likely that the next time you experience close personal loss again you will be more resilient to its negative effects, such as depression and hopelessness. This makes sense, considering that our brains are wired to learn from past experiences and create patterns based on our responses to the events. Thus, reducing the time and energy output required when facing stressful situations by kind of “flying on auto-pilot”.
Some of the most common traits correlated with adaptive growth include spirituality and social support networks; both of which allow those experiencing extreme stress to cling to a sort of mental life raft and keep their heads above water in the roughest of currents. As post-traumatic growth researchers have discovered, the ability to accept situations beyond one’s on control is crucial for adapting to traumatic life events. They call it “acceptance coping”, which refers to the idea that the more quickly someone can come to terms with reality and accept the situation, the more likely they will be to drive on with life and experience growth, rather than trying to continuously run away from the harsh reality of life events.
In sum, traumatic experiences don’t necessarily have to remain bad. They don’t necessarily have to result in long-term negative side effects. Post-traumatic growth is possible in those who have a desire to push forward from the experience and unlock a whole world of new possibilities as a result of having overcome some of life’s greatest challenges. These people may grow in personal strength, closeness of their relationships and appreciation for life. Outlook often determines direction and the sooner people are able to accept the negative things that have happened and face circumstances head-on with support from others, the quicker they may be able to heal and thrive again, rather than getting stuck in cycles of despair and depression.
The bottom line is that traumatic experiences can have powerful positive effects if you leverage community, purpose, relationships, and spirituality to overcome them and transform into something even even better than what you were before the event… but growth is not going to happen on its own. Are you willing to face down adversity, weather the storm and thrive?
