What Is Post-traumatic Growth?

No one wishes to have to face adverse situations in their life. However, many of us, sooner or later, are forced to deal with painful experiences. Some people are devastated by the experience, even leading to health problems. But, for others, this event leads to post-traumatic growth that positively changes the course of their lives.

It is difficult to imagine how an emotional trauma can bring us something positive. However, many people have managed to transcend adversity, thereby experiencing a true personal transformation. But what exactly is post-traumatic growth? What factors is its appearance subject to?

Post-traumatic growth

Post-traumatic growth can be defined as the positive change that a person experiences as a result of a process of struggle undertaken from a traumatic event.

It does not refer only to the fact that the individual can overcome the adverse experience without developing pathology, recovering their initial state. Post-traumatic growth involves a true transformation in the way you perceive yourself, the world, and the direction of your life.

Thus, after the negative experience, clear changes are perceived in the person’s perspective:

• Life is somehow revalued , which also produces a change in the scale of priorities
• Their social relationships become more intimate and warm. Interpersonal bonds are strengthened when facing adversity; Furthermore, suffering helps develop empathy and compassion. This happens, for example, in the case of parents whose child experiences medical problems. Many of them report feeling closer and closer after sharing this experience.

• Experience a greater sense of personal strength. As a result of the traumatic event, the person’s confidence in themselves and in their abilities to face future adversities significantly increases.
• Discover and recognize new possibilities and paths in your life. It usually happens in individuals who have lived very strict and oppressive roles and, after the negative experience, they find opportunities to redirect their life.
• A spiritual development occurs. Morality and spirituality is transformed. A reconsideration of one’s own scale of values ​​takes place and a more transcendent vision of life develops.

A transformation process

All of this doesn’t happen from one moment to the next, by chance or the good fortune of that particular person. Post-traumatic growth is the result of profound individual restructuring . In the light of the traumatic experience, the most entrenched cognitive paradigms and schemas are destabilized. His way of understanding the world falters, his set of meanings is challenged.

Thus, when facing the new and painful reality, a process of deconstruction and reconstruction of the perspectives and assumptions of the person begins. Resulting in more positive and functional ones. No one experiences post-traumatic growth being the same person, as it is a journey of profound transformation.

However, it is not a path without pain. Stress and negative emotions appear and are present during the process. What’s more, it is an essential element for growth to occur. So, what makes some people emerge strengthened and transformed from adversity, while others fall into a dark pit that carries consequences?

An appropriate coping style

Much of the difference is marked by the personality and temperament of each. Not all of us have the same degree of optimism, positivity, and resilience. Our genetics and the environment that has accompanied us since birth have been shaping our traits and abilities. Thus, some people are more likely than others to use more useful and functional coping styles. Those who resort to reflective styles and emotional expression have been shown to experience post-traumatic growth to a greater degree.

Therefore, if currently our coping strategies lead us to experience great suffering in the face of adversity, if we feel defenseless and beaten, let’s consider modifying our style. We can all develop coping skills that lead us to increase our confidence and optimism. We cannot prevent negative or painful events from happening to us, but we can grow and learn from each of them.