Post Traumatic Stress Growth

Post traumatic stress growth, or PTG, is defined as what can happen when someone who has had difficulty recovering from traumatic events that changes their core beliefs and endures physiological struggles finds a sense of personal growth. Clinicians can use a self-report scale known as the PTG Inventory, or PTGI, which looks for positive responses in five areas: appreciation for life, relationships with others, new possibilities in life, personal strength, and spiritual change. PTGI is currently being revised to add new items surrounding “spiritual change” to “incorporate more existential themes that should resonate with people who are more secular.” The revisions will also reflect cross-cultural differences in the perception of spirituality. 

One-half to two-thirds of people who experience trauma show PTG with studies indicating the change is stable over time. Factors that make people more susceptible to PTG include openness to experience and extraversion. The reason for this is because both of those traits cause people to reconsider their belief systems and they are typically more active in the response of trauma in addition to connecting with others. Overtime, the benefits of PTG help to transform people's lives because it leads to personal strength, new possibilities, improved relationships, a greater appreciation for life, and spiritual growth. 

There are also elements of growth associated with PTG including education, emotional regulation, disclosure, narrative development, and service. Education allows people to move through trauma into growth, but this only occurs when people become educated on what they are experiencing which is a disruption of core beliefs. Emotional regulation helps people to recall successes, consider best-case possibilities, and think reasonably about what they are doing and why. Disclosure allows people to talk about what happened to them and what’s currently happening, however a narrative development asks individuals to write a narrative about their trauma and their lives afterwards so they can accept what has happened and imagine creating the next chapter in their lives. Lastly, service provides trauma survivors with resources and benefits to help in the aftermath of trauma.

Source: APA, Harvard Business Review