Post-Traumatic Growth
We all go through hard times in life. How we cope with those hard times, crises, or traumatic events impacts us. It changes us. There is a new field that looks at how people become stronger on the other side of overcoming major challenges. Calhoun and Tedeschi (2013) call this post-traumatic growth and define it as
Totally agree that moving through the healing process after trauma can stimulate growth. Since I've been in this process for more than 3 decades, I offer my perspective: 1) growth can be in big steps or tiny ones, take a long time or happen with an ah-ha moment; 2) not all growth is permanent - we can slip into old habits when we least thought possible; 3) growth is a personal definition - we all chart our milestones differently.
After more than 3 decades of being in the healing process, I still get down on myself when I slide backward; but then I look at the overall growth and marvel that I have made so much progress! I also remind myself that there is no finish line - As long as I stay moving I stay growing. Lastly, I speak with tremendous 1st hand knowledge about how trauma wires the brain. My best therapy continues to be a type of bio feedback brain training to change the amount of different brain wave patterns, and how they are expressed in both brain hemispheres. It is a topic that needs more funding, and more research!
I needed this.
#3 resonated with me most, as someone who has been working to overcome PTSD for 5 years now. I have changed my spirituality and my career as a result of my trauma. I do believe it has changed my personality for the better - I am now more compassionate and understanding of others. Alot of the things that were important to me before in life are no longer so important. My priorities have changed. And although I wish I never had to endure the trauma, I am grateful for the person I have become as a result of it.
#3 hit home for me I have been battling PTSD since i was 23 and it has changed how i see life! I see it for the better because I have come through so much! And having to battle with PTSD has made me a stronger person! I look at life now and i view it as so precious because by all rights i shouldn't be here!
Very interesting post/thread! I definitely think I've experienced this somewhat, and am continuing to see how traumatic experiences have changed me. I've definitely seen changes in others after traumatic things and am interested what valuable information comes out of this field and if it changes how trauma is addressed in communities.
I feel very strongly that this is true. However, it is still an ongoing process and I fluctuate between feeling very strong and very weak, even after overcoming. But I definitely identify only with being a strong person who overcame tough issues. :)
Yes. But i never had a listener before. Now i do have because of seven cups
Rumi, a 13th century poet, expressed this concept of trauma leading to growth in a different way. He speaks of the hurts of life breaking and opening our hearts to feel things more deeply. Of course he had compassion for people going through trauma, but he came back when people tried to voice the victim script, expand your view and you can see "It is all a blessing." I am still working on seeing the blessings in the hard times life offers but I have seen enough to make me a believer that it is possible.