What is Post Traumatic Growth Theory and why is it so necessary to our wholeness?
Post-Traumatic Growth is the positive mental shift that happens as a result of experiencing challenges and hardships and acknowledges the fact that adversity can actually promote positive outcomes as a result. Along your healing journey, you may notice some positive changes in yourself that have come as a result of what you have endured in your life.
For some, post-traumatic growth (PTG) can mean increased personal strength or a greater appreciation for life. It could mean spiritual growth or altered belief systems. For others, it could be the motivation to pursue something new or use your own experience to help others and see the world through a different lens. It also has a way of exposing some of the mistruths that we are all so prone to believe about ourselves and our circumstances and our lives.
Growth after trauma is part of your natural human capacity to make meaning, heal, and learn from hardship. As humans, we are always processing the world around us and how we fit into the world, and how our circumstances and experiences can shape our perspective of ourselves and others. As a believer, I like to think of us all as just broken vessels and that God is using all the pieces of us, combining them in such a way to create something even more beautiful than perhaps we were before the hardship. Nature demonstrates this concept beautifully. When we prune vines or trees they always grow back even stronger, healthier and with the ability to produce more fruit. Perhaps God created nature this way because he wants this way to be our nature. I’ve always liked the Leonard Cohen quote, “There’s a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”
There is a centuries-old Japanese tradition of mending broken ceramics with gold. The tradition is known as Kintsugi (gold seams) or poetically translated as “Golden Journey.” This method celebrates each artifact's unique history by emphasizing its fractures and breaks instead of hiding or disguising them. In fact, kintsugi often makes the repaired piece even more beautiful than the original, revitalizing it with a new look and giving it a second life.
So how can we encourage this process in ourselves?
Post-traumatic growth is encouraged by your willingness to acknowledge what happened to you was traumatic, but also recognizing that the story does not end there. While what you experienced was painful and difficult, what you must focus on now is what can be learned, how can you grow and how can you move forward in a way that creates beauty from the ashes.
“Traumas almost always include the removal of personal power or agency, and taking back choice is a huge part of recovering from trauma,” says Krummey, a licensed mental health counselor. “Restoration of a sense of safety and security with the world, with other people, and/or with yourself is another factor that leads to Post Traumatic Growth.”
There are many ways that you can go about this — so consider leaning into what feels right for you.
According to Tedeschi and Calhoun’s historical 1996 study, key signs that you’re experiencing PTG include:
A greater appreciation of life: appreciating the value of life, or appreciating each day in a way you didn’t before
Improved relationships with others: you might develop a sense of closeness with others, increased compassion, or the knowledge that you can count on others in times of crisis
New possibilities: such as developing new interests, a new life path, or a willingness to change things that need changing
Personal strength: the knowledge that you can handle difficult things, that you’re stronger than you thought, or an increased sense of self-reliance
Spiritual change: A deeper understanding of spirituality, or stronger faith than before
You might notice more clarity or meaning surrounding the trauma events and a sense of moving forward in your life despite the hardships. You might notice your perspective and narrative shifting and how you talk about yourself and your story moving in a more positive direction. You might even feel able to integrate the event or events as a contributor to a new identity Others who know you well might begin to see the gold seams of your fractured past shining bright creating the beautiful new vessel you are becoming.
We all work at our own pace though and have unique journeys. So if you haven’t seen signs of this on your healing journey, that’s OK. It may come later on. You also may want to consider working with a coach to help you make sense of your experience and discover how to accelerate the process of growth.
