A Study On Post Traumatic Growth
Trauma- an extremely broad and unpleasant term. Anyone can instantly associate trauma with their most negative experience that has left a profound impact- may be even a scar- on their lives. Trauma can be defined as a response to a deeply distressing or disturbing event that usually has an overwhelming effect on the individual and tends to diminish their sense of self, ability to cope, and their ability to feel their full range of emotions. The intensity and manner in which this occurs, however, can differ from person to person. Apart from that, Trauma does not discriminate the way it attacks people and creates a whole new approach to life for an individual.
Briefly speaking, trauma can be synonymous with a vast range of experiences, that may usually occur during childhood and/or adolescence. These can include bullying, community violence, natural disasters, medical trauma, physical and/or mental abuse, intimate partner violence, traumatic grief, life endangering accidents, etc. This vast range of traumatic experiences affect individuals in the most intricate and deep ways possible, even then leaving behind some wounds that may never be healed.
Post Traumatic Growth (PTG) is an area that is being researched vigorously all over the world. Contrary to common beliefs around us, the view that trauma can change individuals in, sometimes, radically good ways is popular from the ancient times and is also widespread. This idea was neither “discovered” by social or behavioral researchers and clinicians nor is it a recently pondered upon concept. PTG can often be confused with resilience, but the two are different constructs. Resiliency is a personal attribute or the ability of an individual to bounce back. On the other hand, PTG refers to what can happen when someone who has difficulty bouncing back from stressful events, experiences a traumatic event that challenges their core beliefs, endures psychological struggle (mental illness such as post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD), and then ultimately finds a sense of personal growth. Someone who already possesses a higher level of resilience when trauma occurs won't experience PTG because a resilient person isn't shaken to the core by an event and doesn't push them to seek a new belief system at all, unlike in the case of PTG. On the other hand, less resilient people may go through extreme distress and confusion as they try to process why a terrible thing has happened to them and what it means for their world view and outlook on life.
One may think of PTG as a misleadingly negative result of trauma. There are more studies now that show that PTG is generally stable over time, with a few people showing increases and a few showing decreases in their “growth.” There definitely has to be more research done in this area but that is dependent on studies and corroborations at a global level.
The Post Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) developed by Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun in the mid 90s looks for positive responses in five areas:
• Appreciation for life
• Relationship with others
• New possibilities in life
• Personal strength
• Spiritual Change
We can consider two personality traits that make some people more likely to experience PTG than others: openness to experience and extraversion. This is because people who are more open are more likely to reconsider their belief system, and extroverts are more likely to be more active in response to trauma and seek out connections with others. Women also tend to report more PTG than men, yet the difference is relatively small. Age could also be a factor, with children under 8 less likely to have the cognitive capacity to experience PTG, while those in late adolescence and early adulthood- who may already be trying to determine their worldview- are more open to the type of change that such growth reflects.
I would like to put forth an example of such a person who may have experienced PTG. A talented developer was getting established in a new company, and he created a program that showed great promise. However, his bosses hired someone from the outside to run it, while the developer was being threatened to be reported. Led by this new manager, the program underperformed, and the developer was being blamed, damaging his reputation and career prospects. Finally, he went to HR and said, “I wasn’t sure if this was the right move,” he told me, “But I needed to get some advice.” Talking to the HR representative ended up being cathartic, and he ended up telling her more than he’d planned to, because she asked questions such as “What did it feel like to have this project taken from you and completely messed up?” She then worked with him to help him recover from that big professional setback. Here, we see that with the certain positive type of element (the HR person), the individual was able to smoothly sail through his “traumatic experience,” as being deprived of authority over something that has been created with great hard work and sincerity by you being taken away from you, can absolutely be justified as a traumatic experience. Either way, trauma has a personal definition to every individual who experiences it, depending upon their resilience level and the type of stress-responses they may have.
In these challenging times, given the Covid-19 pandemic, one must keep in mind that there may be hundreds and thousands among us that may have experienced some form of trauma. The positive manipulation of even a single factor in their lives, such as receiving a healthy amount of attention to their problems, kindness, hope, empathy, a listening ear, etc. and any other form of aid could turn the direction of their post traumatic experience, thus, helping them grow and develop in a new way.
About The Author
Anushkaa Prabhu, Sub-Head of the PsyCreative Column
Psychology Committee, SDSOS, NMIMS
Anushkaa Prabhu is a student in her first year pursuing B.Sc. Applied Psychology. Her main interests lie in artistic fields like dance, music, painting/sketching, etc., where she has won major accolades for folk and Indian Classical dance. Undoubtedly, these interests include the pleasures of writing short essays and poetry. The author found her passion for writing at the very beginning of the infamous ongoing pandemic and continues to enjoy the freedom of expression and the depth to emotions that literature and language can provide.
Image Source: Pixabay
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