Experts believe that not all trauma causes post-traumatic stress disorder, some can encourage growth. Psychologists Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun have worked together to study the positive outcomes of trauma, or post-traumatic growth (PTG).
Trauma can result from events such as sexual harassment, violence, a death threat, or witnessing other horrifying events. While adverse events usually result in post-traumatic stress disorder, dealing with trauma properly can help people grow in resilience and overcome these experiences.
PTG is a 'positive change that goes beyond the baseline,' explained Calhoun, while resilience means returning or maintaining that baseline. To measure PTG, Calhoun and Tedeschi designed the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory.
Positively recovering from trauma includes therapies such as art, music, and other cultural activities. Growth is meant to help traumatized victims appreciate the beauty of life, tap into their sense of strength, focus on life goals, have healthy relationships to have 'a richer existential and spiritual life.'
Recovering From Trauma
Psychologists have realized that traumatized people knowing the possibility of growth after their experience may help them want to try PTG. Calhoun said that those with trauma need to be aware that growth is possible after facing a highly difficult circumstance, even if it is repeated abuse.
Researchers have also discovered that PTG is more effective for women, who experience more stress than men due to several cultural factors. Women tend to 'reappraise the stressor as leading to positive outcomes,' and seem 'more open about reporting their coping strategies than men,' shared Eranda Jayawickreme from Wake Forest University.
Relationships and personality types are also factors for growth. Being an extrovert and an optimist helps people with trauma cope and grow better than those with less healthy relationships and are more pessimistic.
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PTG is Not For Everyone
However, researchers point out that growth from trauma is not possible for everyone. PTG may be common, shared Calhoun, but 'it is neither universal nor inevitable; some people never experience it and there is nothing wrong with that.' All traumatic events are unique and how people handle these events is also unique.
In the United States, there is 'a strong narrative around redemption,' said Jayawickreme,' that when something negative or traumatic happens, there is an expectation that one should and can overcome it. 'This idea leads to possible overreporting of PTG by trauma victims on one hand - because they feel that they 'should' be experiencing growth,' he said. Jayawickreme said that people can still have personal growth from positive events, not just trauma.
PTG should not also be mistaken for a one-time solution to dealing with trauma, it is a process. According to Calhoun and Tedeschi's research from 2009, PTG is a mutual interaction 'with life wisdom and the development of the life narrative; it is an ongoing process, not a static outcome.' Post-traumatic growth can help people first face and acknowledge their trauma and then move forward.
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