What is Post-Traumatic Growth?

As a consequence of trauma, we lose faith in the goodness of the world and its people. Our pain and suffering sketch an imaginary line between pre- and post-crisis.

By Deena Camps.

Considering we’re all facing the COVID-19 pandemic, I thought it might be a good time to address the concept of post-traumatic growth (PTG) developed by Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun in the 1990s (Akhtar, 2017).

Following extreme stress/trauma we display a range of negative emotions (e.g. anxiety, fear, sadness, anger, and guilt) which adversely affect our well-being in the short and long-term. It is also common for us to develop impaired and upsetting cognitive processes (e.g. numbness, intrusive thoughts and images) and ongoing physical symptoms (e.g. anxiety, aches and pains) (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004). It’s also true that continuous difficulties following crises increase the risk for the development of mental health problems (Rubonis & Bickan, 1991).

What we don’t speak about (as often as the negative implications of distressing situations) is the possibility of psychological growth post-trauma. I.e. Appreciating those moments where we go from feeling distraught and disturbed to slowly returning to baseline, or even where we have used our suffering as “a springboard to a higher life of functioning and deeper meaning” (Akhtar, 2017, p. 2). This is PTG in a nutshell. It refers to unexpected positive consequences following highly challenging circumstances (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004). It is also known as ‘adversarial growth’, ‘stress-related growth’ and ‘psychological growth’ (Akhtar, 2017).

There are many theories of how PTG occurs. I’ll be focusing on the ‘Shattered Assumptions’ theory (Janoff-Bulman, 2010). Janoff-Bulman (2010) suggests that traumatic experiences shatter our perceptions of ourselves and the world which usually guard us against vulnerability. There are three main assumptions which are broken by traumatic experiences:

1. The world is benevolent

2. The world is meaningful

3. The self is deserving of good outcomes

As a consequence of trauma, we lose faith in the goodness of the world and its people, our sense of contingency between people and outcomes (e.g. when bad things happen to good people, it’s viewed as undeserving and unfair), and our sense of self-worth and controllability. Our pain and suffering sketch an imaginary line between pre- and post-crisis. PTG occurs in the latter. We either build new perceptions of ourselves and the world or restructure our old ones to recover from the damage. This usually starts by making efforts to engage with our pain, making sense of what happened and slowly gravitating towards a place of acceptance, poise and well-being.

Linley and Joseph (2004) conducted one of the earliest meta-analyses exploring positive changes following trauma and adversity (n=39). Their findings indicated that around 30-70% of post-traumatic stress survivors experienced PTG… so it’s not as rare as we might think! Acceptance, positive reinterpretation and optimism were a few of the variables found to be associated with PTG. It also didn’t matter what adversities were faced as the findings were reported across transport accidents, natural disasters, life events (e.g. divorce, collapsed relationships or bereavement etc.) and personal attacks (e.g. sexual violence, child abuse or combat etc.).

Moreover, a significant event resulting in developing interest in PTG was the 9/11 terror attacks. Poulin et al., (2009) longitudinally investigated its effects on 1000+ American adults. They found numerous positive outcomes three years after the incident. These included prosocial benefits (i.e. increased connectedness and kindness towards others), religiosity (i.e. an increase in spiritual beliefs), political differences (i.e. a growth in political affiliation), and philosophical benefits (i.e. sense-making and satisfaction in life, reduced distress, and post-traumatic stress).

Turning our attention to the current coronavirus crisis, whilst it has been highly stressful, I’ve noticed some signs of PTG (especially prosocial and philosophical benefits). For example, efforts being made to stay socially connected, citizens volunteering in the frontline, clapping for keyworkers, donating to charities and helping isolated neighbours etc. I think it’s a perfect example of the co-occurrence of suffering and growth and a reminder that adversity not only challenges us but strengthens us!

References

Akhtar, M. (2017). What is post-traumatic growth? Watkins Pub LTD.

Janoff-Bulman, R. (2010). Shattered assumptions. Simon and Schuster.

Linley, A.P., & Joseph, S. (2004). Positive change following trauma and adversity: A review. Journal of Traumatic Stress. 17(1), 11-21.

Poulin, M., Silver, C.S., & Gil-Rivas., V. (2009). Finding social benefits after a collective trauma: Perceiving societal changes and well-being following 9/11. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 22(2), 81-90.

Rubonis, A.V., & Bickman, L. (1991). Psychological impairment in the wake of disaster: The disaster psychopathology relationship. Psychological Bulletin, 109, 384-399.

Tedeschi, R.G., & Calhoun, L.G. (2004). Posttraumatic growth: Conceptual foundations and empirical evidence. Psychological Inquiry, 15(1), 1-18.